The following is a summary of “Transforming the Future of Surgeon-Scientists” published in the February 2024 issue of Surgery by Ladner, et al.
For a study, researchers sought to make a plan for how heads of surgery departments, university organizations, and funding bodies can best help surgeon-scientists. Surgical advances have changed many areas of medicine through their scientific efforts. Surgeon-scientists look at and think about important science questions in a unique way. The surgeon-scientist faces many problems, including needing more institutional support, having to work faster in the hospital, and having to deal with more paperwork. Surgical training and practice also take a lot of time. To make a plan for long-term science in surgery, the American Surgical Association formed the Research Sustainability Task Force. Between January and April 2023, leaders from the top surgery departments funded by the NIH met in person and over video chat. A strength, weakness, chances, and dangers analysis was done, and workgroups were made to discuss the roles of doctors, the department, organizations, and financial agencies.
The task force’s suggestions are Surgeons, focusing on study, long-term planning, patience and persistence, team science, and working with different experts, all examples of a growth mindset. The skill set discussed the match skills of the study, filling the important skill gaps and improving team leadership. DOS, or the Department of Surgery, BEING A MENTOR, there should be mentor-mentee matching, frequent meetings, and responsibility, reviewing the progress of younger teachers, mentorship training requirements, and recognizing mentorship through awards and relative value units. A coach gives you time, useful scientific knowledge, extramural funds, experience, and/or training to be a trusted guide and instructor. The mentee should be excited, aggressive, open to comments, and clear about their goals. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: expanding research areas, finding funding sources that match them, departmental resource awards (like T- and P-grants), making the most of institutional resources, negotiating formalized/formulaic funds flow investments from academic medical centers toward science and philanthropy; STRUCTURAL AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT; structural support includes funding for administrative help, biostatistics and bioinformatics help, help with clinical trials and research, help with regulations, and shared lab space and tools across departments.
Strategic planning was to bring a variety of surgeon-scientists and scientists across DOS, strategically hiring and keeping professors, funding, career development support, tracking progress, grant writing help, DOS-wide research meetings, and regular DOS strategic research planning; CULTURE AND COMPANY focussed on community was having the right mix of staff and connecting surgeons with the larger scientific community. Culture focussed on creating a research framework, funding research, and showing how important research is through awards, grand rounds, and shoutouts. THE ROLE OF BUSINESSES AND TOOLS was to establish the Foundation shared research space, open start-up packages, courses, and a “mock study” area, prizes, and mentoring teams from a variety of institutions; Encourage the institution’s organization, funds (for example, donated chairs), the promotion that is open to surgeon-scientists, and surgeon-scientists in top roles within the institution; Expectations were RVU goal relief, salary gap funds, competitive starting rates, and a plan for paying employees over time. FUNDING AGENCIES’ idea focussed on the funding agencies should change the way surgeons are trained to do research, offer alternatives to K-awards, raise the salary cap to reflect the market, give surgeons more time to become early-stage investigators, make sure surgeons are represented on study sections, and come up with focused award strategies for professional societies and foundations. To get the most out of surgeon-scientists’ contributions to scientific progress, institutions, companies, funders, and society must recommit themselves, and surgeon leaders must also be bold in their actions.
