MD/PhDs are more likely than MDs to choose a career in academic dermatology

There are fewer dermatologists entering and being retained in academics. We investigated the hypothesis that MD/PhDs are more likely than MDs to enter a career in academic dermatology. This retrospective study of university dermatology departments and divisions studied MDs, DOs, and MD/PhDs who completed a dermatology program in the U.S. and were serving as full-time dermatology faculty members at a US dermatology program as of December 2004. The main outcome measures were percentage of MD/PhDs who chose a career in academics compared to the percentage of MDs who chose a career in academics; MDs, DOs, MD/PhDs and serving as full-time faculty members and the number serving as chair or chief of dermatology. The total number of MD/PhDs and percentage of MD/PhDs as full-time faculty in 107 U.S. dermatology programs were determined. As of December 2004, there were 782 full-time faculty MDs who completed a residency in the US, with 72 (9.2%) MD/PhDs who completed a US dermatology residency program. MD/PhDs were 1.63 times (p < or =0.001) more likely to go into academics compared to MDs. The programs with the highest number of MD/PhDs as full-time faculty and the programs with the highest percentage of MD/PhDs as full-time faculty were tabulated. Seven out of an eligible 101 dermatology chiefs/chairs were MD/PhDs. The assumption that 5.8 percent of dermatology residents who were MD/PhD during 2004-2007 could be extrapolated to the 35 year period of 1970-2004. MD/PhDs are an important source of physician-scientists in academic dermatology and were 1.63 times more likely compared to MDs to choose a career in academics and remain in academics.