Academic Careers in Cardiovascular Medicine

Abstract

With aging of the US population and continued success in prolonging survival of patients with cardiovascular disease, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease will increase exponentially in the next several decades.1 The anticipated supply of cardiovascular specialists will be insufficient to meet the demands of this increasing disease burden. A shortage already exists of cardiologists as a whole, and this shortage has translated to an even greater undersupply of academic cardiovascular specialists as fewer and fewer physicians who enter the field pursue academic positions. Prolonged training periods, expanding debt burdens, increasing discrepancies between salaries in academic and private practice positions, and a perceived lack of funding for research continue to push cardiologists into the private sector. The cardiovascular clinician-scientist is an endangered species. So the question arises: How do we combat these real and perceived threats and increase the number of young cardiologists choosing careers in academic cardiovascular medicine? The purpose of this series of articles in Circulation is to provide trainees and new faculty with a practical guide to launching a successful research career in cardiovascular medicine across the spectrum of cardiovascular specialties and across the strata of scientific investigation. The primer will provide advice for choosing a mentor; selecting a research project; identifying funding opportunities; selecting a research career pathway among the many opportunities in basic, clinical, epidemiologic, outcomes, and translational research; writing a grant; publishing a paper; finding a job; and making the transition from fellow to faculty. In addition, issues on ethics in cardiovascular research and specific considerations for international trainees are included. Our aim is to provide new investigators with many of the tools they will need to make informed choices about entering academic cardiovascular medicine and to make the initial career stages as successful as possible. Cardiovascular medicine is a specialty defined by research …