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The Swiss National MD-PhD Grants Programme: an analysis of the career trajectories of grant recipients between 1992 and 2021

Tapernoux, Myriam; Vermij, Sarah; Metzger, Gaudenz; Zeilhofer, Hanns Ulrich (2024). The Swiss National MD-PhD Grants Programme: an analysis of the career trajectories of grant recipients between 1992 and 2021. Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift, 154(7):3615.

Abstract

AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to provide an analysis of the career trajectory of the recipients of a Swiss National MD-PhD grant thirty years after the creation of the Swiss interuniversity MD-PhD programme.

METHODS

The study surveyed 277 recipients of a Swiss National MD-PhD grant using an online questionnaire in April 2022. There were twenty questions about participants' demographics, the duration of their MD-PhD training, their career trajectory, current position, research and clinical activity, the impact of the support on the recipients' careers, and their satisfaction with various aspects of the grant.

RESULTS

The study showed that 141 out of the 277 grant recipients contacted returned the survey (51% response rate). The gender distribution of the participants was 33% women, 63% men, 4% unknown, which is almost the same as that of all grantees (35% women, 65% men). One hundred and fourteen (81%) respondents had completed their MD-PhD thesis and were graduates, while 27 (19%) were still MD-PhD students. The mean duration of the MD-PhD training was 4.27 years, with a slight upward trend over time. A large proportion of graduates, 81%, remained scientifically active after the grant, most of them in academic settings. Of the grantees who had completed their MD-PhD at least eight years before the survey, 55% had a paid research position with 40% combining research and clinical roles, and 15% doing research only. Seventy-six per cent remained clinically active, 54% occupied leadership positions, and 25% were professors. Most grantees believed that the grant had had a positive impact on their career trajectory. The main challenges included a delay in clinical training, a limited number of clinical positions with dedicated research time after the MD-PhD period, and sub-optimal recognition by hospital hierarchies.

CONCLUSION

The data collected for this study confirm that the competitive Swiss National MD-PhD Grants Programme excels in supporting promising physician scientists who remain active in both research and clinical contexts in the long term. The individual grants are perceived as a distinction that acts as the basis for a successful career in academic medicine. Continued support and alternative funding sources, however, will be essential to ensure the programme's sustainability.

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:04 Faculty of Medicine > Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology
07 Faculty of Science > Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Dewey Decimal Classification:610 Medicine & health
570 Life sciences; biology
Scopus Subject Areas:Health Sciences > General Medicine
Language:English
Date:4 July 2024
Deposited On:14 Aug 2024 09:59
Last Modified:31 Jan 2025 02:36
Publisher:EMH Swiss Medical Publishers
ISSN:0036-7672
OA Status:Gold
Free access at:Publisher DOI. An embargo period may apply.
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.57187/s.3615
PubMed ID:38980543
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  • Content: Published Version
  • Language: English
  • Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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