A program for training physician-investigators

A decreasing number of physicians are selecting careers in clinical investigation. In order to aid in reversing this trend, the Physician Investigator Training Program for residents and postdoctoral fellows was developed within the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Ph. D.s with broad-based research experience serve as the core faculty. The trainees are not assigned clinical duties during the two-year period of the program. The first nine months of the curriculum consist of formal lectures and laboratory training encompassing basic laboratory techniques, cell and tissue culture, separation techniques, advanced instrumental techniques, kinetics, enzymology and receptors, membrane structure and transport, radioimmunoassay, statistical analysis, computer programming, mathematics, microbiology, animals in research, immunology, epidemiology, teaching methods, and manuscript and grant-writing. The last 15 months are devoted to a supervised laboratory research project. The program may serve as a model to train increased numbers of physician-investigators.