title: Research projects in the Surgeon-Scientist and Clinician-Investigator programs at the University of Toronto (1987-2016): a cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physicians have traditionally been at the forefront of medical research, bringing clinical questions to the laboratory and returning with ideas for treatment. However, we have anecdotally observed a decline in the popularity of basic science research among trainees. We hypothesized that fewer resident physicians have been pursuing basic science research training over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined records from residents in the Surgeon-Scientist and Clinician-Investigator programs at the University of Toronto (1987-2016). Research by residents was categorized independently by 2 raters as basic science, clinical epidemiology or education-related based on the title of the project, the name of the supervisor and Pubmed searches. The study population was divided into quintiles of time, and the proportion pursuing basic science training in each quintile was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Agreement between the raters was 100%; the categorization of the research topic remained unclear in 9 cases. The proportion of trainees pursuing basic science training dropped by 60% from 1987 to 2016 (p= 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significantly fewer residents in the Surgeon-Scientist and Clinician-Investigator Programs at the University of Toronto are pursuing training in the basic sciences as compared with previous years.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Neil M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Benjamin E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: James T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Rutka
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Val
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Norman D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Andras
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapus
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesia (Goldenberg, Steinberg); Surgery (Rutka, Cabral, Kapus); Medicine (Chen, Lee); Pediatrics (Rosenblum), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science (Kapus, Lee), Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Lee), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
authors.forename: Warren L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Lee