# Training the Next Generation of Clinician Scientist

> **NIH NIH T35** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · 2022 · $45,679

## Abstract

Clinician scientists are a vital component of the biomedical research workforce. Unfortunately, early career
clinicians currently make up a smaller share of funded investigators than ever, and the training pipeline for
clinician scientists is shrinking. This T35 training grant proposal seeks continuation of a highly productive training
program with an overall goal of encouraging talented and motivated medical students and pharmacy students to
careers as clinician scientists. Programs to attract interested medical students to careers as physician scientists
complement MD-PhD training programs because MD scientists are more likely to become engaged in patient-
oriented research compared to MD-PhD scientists and MD scientists more often choose research as a career
direction during medical school compared to MD-PhD scientists who generally choose before medical school. In
the next funding period we propose to expand the program to include pharmacy students to train pharmacist
scientists, who play an increasingly important role in research in new therapeutics in infectious diseases and
immunological disorders, including cancer. In addition to expanding the pool of clinician scientists, this approach
provides valuable interprofessional research experiences for medical students and PharmD students to work
together. The program offers a research and career development experience between the first and second year
of professional school, building on a partnership between University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Comprehensive
Cancer Center. The training program has been enormously successful. During the first ten years, every position
has been filled with 100% of 70 students completing the nine-week program. The program has influenced
medical students in how they view research and academic careers. Several students have continued in research,
have presented their work at national conferences, published papers in peer-reviewed journals and are on
academic career paths. An important priority of this program, which we will continue to emphasize, is the
recruitment of individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social
sciences. During the previous five-year funding period, 30% of students were underrepresented minorities and
63% were women. In addition to including one to two PharmD students per year, we propose two additional
innovations in the next funding period. Students who complete the program will earn a digital badge and an
opportunity to earn a micro-credential, which are an emerging, innovative educational approach awarded for
completion of a learning experience. They are shareable on ePortfolio, digital resumé or Linked-In profiles and
are increasingly valued in education and industry as a way to document training that learners can bring with
them as their careers progress. A second innovation is that we will build on our pipelines to attract students from
underrepresented groups through partnerships wi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10495860
- **Project number:** 2T35AI089693-11A1
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
- **Principal Investigator:** Timothy F Murphy
- **Activity code:** T35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $45,679
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2011-09-15 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10495860

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10495860, Training the Next Generation of Clinician Scientist (2T35AI089693-11A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10495860. Licensed CC0.

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