Career Choice in Academic Medicine: Systematic Review

Academic medicine is in crisis. Contributing factors include the failure to engage stakeholders in developing the research and education agendas and the declining interest in academic careers. To reinvigorate academic medicine, it is necessary to understand what factors influence career choice. Exposure of trainees to research opportunities and graduate programs stimulate interest in academia. The desire to teach, conduct research, and the intellectual stimulation provided in academia also influence people. Several disincentives were found to careers in academic medicine including lack of financial rewards, lack of autonomy, and the pressure to be a “triple threat” requiring productivity in clinical work, research, and education.