Residency matches of MD-PhD versus MD-only students: compatibility with continued research momentum
Shannon Baker, S. Mehdi Nouraie, Richard A. Steinman
Shannon Baker, S. Mehdi Nouraie, Richard A. Steinman
View: Text | PDF
Physician-Scientist Development

Residency matches of MD-PhD versus MD-only students: compatibility with continued research momentum

Abstract

Programs at the medical school level to train students as physician-scientists include NIH-supported MD-PhD (Medical Scientist Training Program, MSTP), non–NIH-supported MD-PhD (MDPhD), and limited research pathways for MD-only students. Continued exposure to a research-rich culture in residency could sustain commitment to a physician-scientist career. We compared residency matches of 10,668 MSTP, MDPhD, or MD-only students from 2021–2023 match cycles, using the NIH funding level of the matched residency program’s department in the match year as the central measure. We also measured how medical school NIH funding levels influenced student matches to top-funded residency programs. Public individual-level match data were available from 13 top-NIH-funded medical schools (top quintile, highest 20% funding) and 8 mid-NIH-funded medical schools (mid quintile, 40%–60% funding). Top-quintile medical schools housed only MSTP programs, whereas mid-quintile schools had both MSTP and MDPhD programs. Across all medical schools, MSTP students matched at a higher rate than MD-only students to residencies in top-NIH-funded departments in their discipline. Within the mid-quintile schools, MSTP and MDPhD student matches did not differ significantly. Notably, students from the top-quintile medical schools (both MD-only and MSTP) matched to higher-NIH-funded residency departments than comparably trained students from the mid-quintile schools.

Authors

Shannon Baker, S. Mehdi Nouraie, Richard A. Steinman

×

Figure 2

Matches by medical school and training background to residencies ranked by residency NIH funding.

Options: View larger image (or click on image) Download as PowerPoint
Matches by medical school and training background to residencies ranked ...
(A) Each point represents a single medical school’s average match by its students in the indicated groups in a given match cycle (2021–2023). Bars depict the mean NIH funding rank across all of the schools ± standard deviation. The y axis value is the average NIH funding level of all residency matches within the school for the indicated training group. It is shown as 100 minus the percentile of each matched residency program within the matched specialty, so that higher values indicate that the school has residency matches in more highly funded specialty departments (e.g., a value of 75 indicates that on average the students in that medical school matched to specialties at schools that were ranked in the 25th percentile for NIH funding). (B) Intraschool matches of students in different training programs averaged over 3 match cycles. Each point is a medical school and lines depict the average match of students in the indicated training programs within each school. The y axis represents NIH funding as in A. (C) Each dot is a student in the indicated training program (total students/program in parentheses). The y axis represents the NIH funding level of each student’s matched residency program within the matched specialty. As in Figure 1A, higher values indicate more NIH funding within the matched specialty department. Results are grouped by the NIH funding level (by quintile) of the medica l school in which students trained. The red bar shows the median. Significance between training program and between quintiles using a linear mixed effects model with percentile as a continuous variable and year adjustment are shown in Table 3.