Profiles of family practice faculty development fellowship graduates 1978-1985

This paper describes the academic roles of the 1978 through 1985 graduates of family medicine faculty development fellowship programs sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ) and the Division of Medicine of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A total of 329 alumni from 12 of the 59 HHS programs and all five of the RWJ programs were surveyed. Based on a 74% response rate, profiles are drawn of graduates. These profiles are compared to a review of the literature in higher education on fellowships, faculty attrition, faculty activities, tenure, and promotion. Conclusions reached from these comparisons include: (1) The retention rate of fellows in full-time faculty positions equaled or exceeded those of other fellowships found in the literature. (2) The attrition rate of alumni from faculty positions has been less than that noted of faculty in other areas of higher education. (3) On average, fellowship graduates have spent less time in research activities than recommended for productivity. (4) The emphasis on research training, particularly in RWJ fellowships, was appropriate, given increasing expectations for research productivity in tenure and promotion decisions. (5) The national trend toward development of alternatives to traditional tenure tracks matches the patterns found in family medicine fellowship alumni--31% of these alumni were serving on such tracks.