Rationale and Objectives
To evaluate radiology residency applications to determine if any variables are predictive of a future academic radiology career.
Materials and Methods
Application materials from 336 radiology residency graduates between 1993 and 2010 from the Department of Radiology, Duke University and between 1990 and 2010 from the Department of Radiology, Stanford University were retrospectively reviewed. The institutional review boards approved this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act–compliant study with a waiver of informed consent. Biographical (gender, age at application, advanced degrees, prior career), undergraduate school (school, degree, research experience, publications), and medical school (school, research experience, manuscript publications, Alpha Omega Alpha membership, clerkship grades, United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and 2 scores, personal statement and letter of recommendation reference to academics, couples match status) data were recorded. Listing in the Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Online Directory and postgraduation publications were used to determine academic status.
Results
There were 72 (21%) radiologists in an academic career and 264 (79%) in a nonacademic career. Variables associated with an academic career were elite undergraduate school ( P = .003), undergraduate school publications ( P = .018), additional advanced degrees ( P = .027), elite medical school ( P = .006), a research year in medical school ( P < .001), and medical school publications ( P < .001). A multivariate cross-validation analysis showed that these variables are jointly predictive of an academic career ( P < .001).
Conclusions
Undergraduate and medical school rankings and publications, as well as a medical school research year and an additional advanced degree, are associated with an academic career. Radiology residency selection committees should consider these factors in the context of the residency application if they wish to recruit future academic radiologists.
Many academic radiology residency programs consider it a part of their core mission to produce future academic and thought leaders . For these programs, an applicant’s potential for an academic career is a consideration in the residency selection process , and yet it is not clear whether there are variables on the residency application which reliably allow identification of those likely to pursue an academic career. This question has been asked by multiple investigators at different institutions over the past two decades, studying a broad range of demographic and educational variables across subspecialties. However, these results have been inconsistent and at times conflicting ( Table 1 ) . The variable that has generally shown the greatest association with an academic career is medical school publications.
Table 1
Summary of Findings from Prior Work Assessing the Likelihood of a Future Academic Career
Predictive Variable Association No Association Female gender
Hillman et al., 1990 ∗
Age
Undergraduate school rankings Dorsey et al., 2006 Undergraduate school research Andriole et al., 2012 Additional advanced degree
Medical school research Bilbey et al., 1992 ∗
Medical school ranking
USMLE Step 1 scores
Markert et al., 1998 AOA membership Lawton et al., 2007 Medical school publications
Medical school honors grades
Medical school class rank Bilbey et al., 1992 ∗
AOA, Alpha Omega Alpha membership; USMLE, United States Medical Licensing Examination.
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Materials and methods
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Table 2
List of Elite Undergraduate Schools and Elite Medical Schools
Elite Undergraduate Schools Elite Medical Schools Brown University Amherst College Columbia University California Institute of Technology Bowdoin College Duke University Columbia University Bryn Mawr College Harvard University Cornell University Carleton College Johns Hopkins University Dartmouth University Claremont McKenna College Stanford University Duke University Davidson College University of California Los Angeles Emory University Haverford College University of California San Francisco Harvard University Middlebury College University of Chicago Johns Hopkins University Pomona College University of Michigan Massachusetts Institute of Technology Swarthmore College University of Pennsylvania Northwestern University Vassar College University of Washington Princeton University Wellesley College Washington University in St. Louis Stanford University Wesleyan College Yale University University of Chicago Williams College University of Pennsylvania Yale University
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Results
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Table 3
Distribution of Applicant Characteristics by Total, Academics, and Not Academics
Characteristic Data Available, n (%) Total, n (Column %) or Mean (SD) Academics, n (Row %) or Mean (SD) Not Academics, n (Row %) or Mean (SD)P value Gender 336 (100) .191 Male 231 (68%) 45 (19%) 186 (81%) Female 105 (32%) 27 (26%) 78 (74%) Age (y) 316 (94) 27.9 (2.6) 27.8 (2.2) 27.9 (2.7) .805 Undergrad degree 319 (95) .619 BA 146 (46%) 27 (19%) 119 (81%) BS 168 (54%) 36 (21%) 137 (79%) Elite undergraduate school 320 (95) .003 ∗ No 217 (68%) 33 (15%) 184 (85%) Yes 103 (32%) 29 (28%) 74 (72%) Prior career 313 (93) .577 No 279 (89%) 57 (20%) 222 (80%) Yes 34 (11%) 5 (15%) 29 (85%) Undergraduate research 316 (94) .670 No 96 (30%) 18 (19%) 78 (81%) Yes 220 (70%) 44 (20%) 176 (80%) Undergraduate publications 309 (92) .018 ∗ No 230 (74%) 39 (17%) 191 (83%) Yes 79 (26%) 22 (28%) 57 (72%) Undergraduate publication quantity 309 (92) 0.6 (1.8) 0.8 (1.7) 0.6 (1.7) .242 Advanced degree 316 (94) .027 ∗ No 256 (81%) 46 (18%) 210 (82%) Yes 60 (19%) 18 (30%) 42 (70%) Elite medical school 335 (99) .006 ∗ No 192 (57%) 31 (16%) 161 (84%) Yes 143 (43%) 41 (29%) 102 (71%) Medical school research 316 (94) .059 No 37 (12%) 3 (8%) 34 (92%) Yes 279 (88%) 59 (21%) 220 (79%) Medical school research year 307 (91) <.001 † No 246 (80%) 39 (16%) 207 (84%) Yes 61 (20%) 22 (36%) 39 (64%) Medical school publications 315 (93) <.001 † No 166 (52%) 21 (13%) 145 (87%) Yes 150 (47%) 41 (27%) 109 (73%) Medical school publication quantity 315 (93) 1.3 (2.3) 2.0 (2.7) 1.1 (2.1) .009 ∗ Letter of recommendation: academics 307 (91) .099 No 179 (58%) 31 (17%) 148 (83%) Yes 128 (42%) 31 (24%) 97 (76%) Personal statement: academics 297 (88) .874 No 107 (36%) 22 (21%) 85 (79%) Yes 190 (64%) 38 (20%) 152 (80%) USMLE Step 1 247 (73) 231 (18.0) 233 (17.7) 231 (18.1) .440 USMLE Step 2 69 (20) 231 (19.0) 234 (16.7) 231 (19.7) .341 Clerkship honors 310 (92) .980 No 136 (46%) 26 (19%) 110 (81%) Yes 174 (54%) 34 (20%) 140 (80%) Couples match 318 (94) .439 No 308 (97%) 61 (20%) 247 (80%) Yes 10 (3%) 1 (10%) 9 (90%) AOA 313 (93) .134 No 171 (55%) 39 (23%) 132 (77%) Yes 142 (45%) 23 (16%) 119 (84%)
AOA, Alpha Omega Alpha membership; SD, standard deviation; USMLE, United States Medical Licensing Examination.
P values refer to the results of univariate logistic regression analysis for academics versus not academics. Undergraduate and medical school publications were calculated for the presence or absence of publications, as well as the total number of publications.
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Discussion
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Conclusion
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