Development and evaluation of a symposium model for building physician-scientist skills, connections, and persistence

High rates of physician-scientist attrition from the investigative workforce remain a significant problem despite the development of dedicated programs and initiatives designed to address the unique challenges faced by physician-scientists. However, many of these efforts are restricted to single career stages of physician-scientist training or to a single medical specialty, which may limit opportunities for beneficial vertical and horizontal mentorship regarding overcoming common career obstacles. Here, we outline the development of a physician-scientist symposium to break down silos and enable productive interactions between physician-scientists across career/training stages, academic and scientific disciplines, and medical specialties. Participants were (a) mixed in small-group problem-based discussions, (b) participated in a cross-specialty keynote panel on overcoming barriers in a physician-scientist career, and (c) took part in skill-building workshops. Attendees indicated that they fostered new connections, developed new skills to overcome career challenges, and increased their commitment to persevering in a career as a physician-scientist. Positive evaluations were not dependent on attendee career/training stage or gender. We suggest these elements of the symposium curriculum may be easily adapted for inclusion in a wide variety of physician-scientist training formats.