Flexible residency program

ing. A key feature is that trainees, if they so wish, can experience research in different specialties during an early part of their career before deciding on specialization. Although it is too early to say whether the initiative has made a significant difference to medical academia, many entrants to these new posts achieve training fellowships to complete PhDs and begin in earnest a clinical academic career. In keeping with your editorial, there is some truncation of our general professional training; however, the targets for exit remain the same. Similarly, criteria for completion of specialist training remain unchanged, but this period is not shortened. Those in the fast lane of training might expect therefore to take a postdoctoral fellowship in their early 30s. With principal investigator status still some time away, it appears that we are no closer to unshackling youth than our American counterparts. With this new framework in place, the United Kingdom has risen to the challenge of training the next generation of clinician-scientists, but it is not speed that has driven change. I would propose that, rather than concentrate on fast tracking a minority of trainees, there are 3 key concepts to foster research excellence among medical graduates: (1) opportunities to engage in research of interest should be open to all medical graduates; (2) there should be support and mentorship for trainees wishing to move off-piste should the right opportunities arise; and (3) a clear career pathway needs to be in place to provide an attractive alternative to a purely clinical career. It is through an open and flexible training system that both precocious talents can be nurtured and late bloomers given opportunity. Is it worth all the effort? Of course, for we all stand to benefit from their hard work.