Faculty tracks and academic success.

Area of Science:

• Academic Medicine
• Faculty Development
• Medical Education

Background:

• The University of Michigan's Department of Internal Medicine established distinct faculty career tracks in 1977.
• These tracks aimed to clarify academic success goals for faculty.
• Additional tracks were later introduced to adapt to evolving needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of implementing defined faculty career tracks.
• To assess the impact of these tracks on faculty goals, training, and promotion.
• To ensure alignment of faculty efforts with institutional objectives.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of specific faculty career tracks: physician-scientist, clinician-scholar, leadership, and full-time clinical.
• Monitoring of faculty progress, concerns regarding comparability, and research productivity.
• Assessment of tenure achievement across different tracks.

Main Results:

• Initial concerns about track comparability and research productivity were resolved.
• Tenure achievement was found to be similar between physician-scientist and clinician-scholar tracks.
• Well-defined tracks facilitated goal alignment and protected research time for junior faculty.

Conclusions:

• Defined faculty career tracks effectively align faculty talents and efforts with career goals.
• These tracks support the academic development of physician-scientists and the career progression of clinicians.
• The system provides a framework for promoting academic success and protecting research time.