Is Academic Radiology Still Attractive?

Abstract

In many medical specialties today, the prospect of joining the ranks of academia is losing its appeal. Because the continuing shortage of radiologists is resulting in intense recruitment by private practice groups, academic radiology may be affected more than other medical specialties. The lack of attractiveness of academic radiology to young trainees making career decisions has many causes. The following are mentioned most often: 1. Relatively low salaries, particularly in view of the indebtedness incurred while going through college and medical school, and particularly when compared with the starting salaries available in private practice. 2. Long periods between promotions, resulting in anxiety and slow progress in increasing income. 3. The competitive, dog-eat-dog atmosphere. 4. The Damoclean sword of “publish or perish.” 5. The frequent need to relocate in order to advance one’s career. 6. The necessity of performing huge loads of clinical work in order for your department to survive fiscally, at the expense of promised research time. The clinical workload may be so heavy that there may be little difference between an academic job and one in private practice except for the disparity in income. 7. The hierarchic arrangement of most departments, in which pleasing the chair and the section chief is very important. 8. The need to be politically correct. These arguments are generally valid, yet the attractions of academia are also indisputable. Private practice and academic radiology cannot really be compared if one has a passion to be on the cutting edge and contribute to advances in radiology.