Fostering Research Mentorship and Training During Psychiatry Residency

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R25 · $216,000 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract There has been a significant decline in the number of research psychiatrists and research fellowships for psychiatrists in the past decades. To address this gap, it is critically important to provide early research training in psychiatry residency. Such training (a) promotes research literacy for all trainees, (b) encourages future participation of clinicians as research collaborators, (c) provides experience that can foster choosing a research career, (d) expands clinical knowledge through the formulation of patient- oriented research questions, (e) attracts medical students into psychiatry training, and (f) maintains and facilitates research interest among residents with investigative backgrounds (IOM 2003). In response to this need, investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Psychiatry and McLean Hospital collaborated with the leadership of the MGH/McLean General Adult Psychiatry Residency to develop a Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) within the residency training program. The goal of the PSTP is to prepare residents from diverse backgrounds for careers as investigators in academic psychiatry by facilitating greater exposure to research activities and training during residency. The PSTP has been successful in attracting and recruiting talented physician-scientists and has developed an effective research education program with appropriate infrastructure attracting clinician-scientists to psychiatry careers. It has provided them both mentorship and research experience to prepare for independent careers in psychiatry combined with neuroscience, genetics, and public health after residency. We wish to further this success in the current application with program goals to: (1) attract, train, and retain excellent residents to become future psychiatrist-investigators in basic, translational, and patient-oriented research during the four years of residency training, with an ultimate goal of retaining physician-scientists for those with formal graduate training and recruiting and developing physician- scientists for those without it; (2) provide dedicated time and training for research over the course of the four- year adult psychiatry residency training program; (3) increase the number of residents who benefit from the research education program; (4) broaden and deepen the research education program by providing greater and more intensive training in research literacy to all residents in the residency training program; (5) provide seed funding for pilot research projects designed by PSTP residents; and (6) partner with training programs within MGH and McLean Hospital as well as Harvard Catalyst, the Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), and the Broad Institute, so all residents will benefit from these educational resources. The new specific aims for this application are to (1) strengthen the core PSTP curriculum for trainees with a diverse range of research interests and level...

Key facts

NIH application ID
10849032
Project number
1R25MH135837-01
Recipient
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
Principal Investigator
MAURIZIO FAVA
Activity code
R25
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$216,000
Award type
1
Project period
2024-06-05 → 2029-03-31