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Role models in academic medicine

A report by the Health Policy and Economic Research Unit
December 2005

This report on medical academic role models has been produced by the BMA in response to the debate which has taken place over the last few years - that there is a recruitment and retention crisis in academic medicine.

There have been many reports published examining the reasons for this crisis and recommending what needs to be done. Many of the reasons are infrastructural and financial and these, I believe, are in the process of being addressed - not least through improved contracts and more structured and supported training and career programmes. Now, perhaps more than ever, is a good time to consider a medical academic career.

In the discussions that have taken place on the state of academic medicine, one of the recurring themes is that in order to inspire the next generation of medical academic staff, more visible academic role models are needed. This report is being published to put some examples of ‘role models’ clearly in the public domain.

The academic staff in this report were all nominated by their peers and colleagues for being inspirational. We wanted to highlight staff from a range of backgrounds, who were at different stages in their careers, but who all have had a positive impact on others and are passionate about what they do.

This report will show that there is a wide range of career options available in academic medicine and will underline the satisfaction that can be gained from pursuing research and teaching the next generation of doctors. Hopefully it will inspire you! If after reading this report you feel that you would enjoy working in academic medicine, speak to your medical school or deanery about what opportunities are available and please feel free to contact the MASC office or myself - if these do not seem immediately suitable, why not put forward your own proposal?

Making this choice might occur at any time in a medical career and although it is easier to do so earlier in a career, as a latecomer to academic medicine myself I would say that there are a number of possibilities to make a positive choice for academic medicine.

Professor Michael Rees
Chairman
Medical Academic Staff Committee


Copies of the report can also be obtained by contacting the Health Policy and Economic Research Unit by email: info.hperu@bma.org.uk or by phone: 020 7383 6129.