Setting Up for Success: Strategies to Foster Surgeons' Pursuit of Basic Science Research

Surgeons make important contributions to basic science research and are in a unique position to innovate scientifically. The number of surgeons pursuing basic science research has been declining over the past two decades. We sought to describe perceived barriers to surgeons' pursuit of basic science research and identify interventions that mitigate these obstacles.

An online survey was sent to chairs of academic surgery departments and practicing surgeons involved in basic science research. A subset of these participants were interviewed about their experiences. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and uploaded to NVivo. Two coders developed a codebook using inductive content analysis to identify relevant themes.

97 people responded to the survey, 27 (29%) were department chairs. Major barriers to basic science research for all respondents were lack of funding, clinical duties and lack of dedicated time for research. Nine surgeons and three departmental chairs were subsequently interviewed. The importance of having clear research goals and timetables with specific plans for attaining funding were mentioned by all. Chairs described the usefulness of embedding early surgeon scientists in their scientific mentors' labs in a post-doctoral model. Additionally, departmental leaders must actively work to protect surgeon scientists from encroaching clinical and administrative demands.

While barriers to surgeons' pursuit of basic science research exist, the surgeon scientist is a phenotype that can be fostered with the dedication and commitment of surgeons to continue to pursue science research and active support of departmental leadership.