Dorothy A. Andriole, M.D., of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and colleagues conducted a study, published in the September 10 issue of JAMA, to identify factors associated with M.D.-Ph.D. program graduation among recent medical graduates. The researchers analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of 88,575 U.S. medical graduates who completed the national Association of American Medical Colleges Graduation Questionnaire from 2000-2006.
Variables associated with greater likelihood of M.D.-Ph.D. program graduation included planned substantial career involvement in research; lower educational debt and receipt of medical school scholarships or grants. Variables associated with lower likelihood of M.D.-Ph.D. graduation included female sex; race/ethnicity underrepresented in medicine; and, compared with internal medicine, planned training in emergency medicine or surgery.
"The results of this study could inform a research agenda to more fully explore the extent to which M.D.-Ph.D. program goals are indeed being met in the U.S. allopathic medical education system," the authors write.
(JAMA. 2008;300[10]:1165-1173. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org )
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