AAMC

We’re proud to spotlight the contributions of our chief scientific officer, Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH, to a National Academy of Medicine workshop, “Sustaining the Biomedical Workforce: Innovative Pathways for Retaining and Supporting Physician-Scientists.”

She grounded the conversation in data: while 90% of medical students participate in faculty-mentored research, just 3% plan to focus their careers on research exclusively. That gap demonstrates the barriers physician-scientists face – but there are solutions: stable funding and training, broader definitions like “research-engaged physicians,” and robust institutional supports like mentorship, networks, and team-science structures.

Thank you to Fuentes-Afflick for her forward-thinking leadership on future of the biomedical workforce. Read the full proceedings here.

Sustaining the Biomedical Workforce: Innovative Pathways for Retaining and Supporting Physician-Scientists - NAM Physician-scientists are unique within the biomedical workforce as a bridge between research and patient care.

June 8-12th is Academic Medicine Week! We want to hear from you. Share how your institution is advancing patient care, training future physicians, conducting groundbreaking research or strengthening communities using .

Congress made history when it passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA, 2021) and increased Medicare support for graduate medical education (GME) for the first time in nearly 25 years. How did AAMC-member teaching health systems and hospitals capitalize on the new Medicare-supported GME residency positions to improve access to care?

In July 2023, UCHealth opened a brand new 40-bed inpatient facility, which included a much-needed behavioral health unit that provided services that were not being provided by other Colorado medical institutions.

Health care leaders at ChristianaCare developed a psychiatry program, decreasing the wait time to see a psychiatrist from 3 months to 1 week.

Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester is expanding its Surgery Residency program, allowing residents to spend more time during their training program in rotations at its rural hospitals.

Read more stories from AAMC member institutions:

How expanding graduate medical education impacts patients and communities