AMSPDC TASK FORCE 1984-1986

In response to a growing concern on the part of its membership, The Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs Inc. (AMSPDC) established a task force in early 1984 to examine the perceived shortage of trained pediatric scientists. The number of physicians receiving postdoctoral research training was diminishing. Even more ominous was the decline in the number of young academic physicians, trained in research, who received an NIH Individual Research Grant (R01) and were qualified for positions in academic pediatric departments.

The task force undertook an in-depth study of the reasons contributing to the lack of physician investigators who were competent in basic research after completion of pediatric residency and fellowship training. While the task force recognized that no single explanation sufficed, after 18 months of study it identified postdoctoral research training as a critical period of career development for academic scientists in pediatrics.