t ASA’s 2004 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, the Celebration of Research featured Michael M. Todd, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of Anesthesiology. Dr. Todd’s remarks addressed the development of researchers and scholars and included the observation that many of our most productive and prominent scientists “got the science bug” at a very early age — many in college, if not high school. As I listened to these comments, I reflected on the fact that I had just come from a meeting of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Board of Directors at which we had awarded research funding to a group of residents and junior faculty — well beyond the impressionable stage described by Dr. Todd.

In the days following, I asked FAER President Alan D. Sessler, M.D., and then-Board of Directors Chair Myer H. Rosenthal, M.D., whether we ought not to also direct our attention to potential anesthesiology scientists at an earlier stage. Dr. Sessler and Dr. Rosenthal unhesitatingly offered support and encouragement to launch the FAER Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship program. A committee composed of Arnold J. Berry, M.D., M. Christine Stock, M.D., and me was immediately constituted with the goal of putting medical students in anesthesia research laboratories the following summer. Guided by FAER staff member Nathan Grunewald, the program was successfully launched in early summer 2005. The objective of the program is to stimulate medical students’ interest in anesthesiology research careers. While the program shares some characteristics with the ASA Preceptorship program of the 1970s, its goal is more narrow and specifically aimed at addressing the shortage of anesthesiologists committed to a lifetime of advancing the science of the specialty.

In summer 2005 and 2006, FAER offered stipend support^* for students enrolled in eight- to 12-week, full-time research preceptorships in anesthesiology departments across the nation. We solicited interest from anesthesiology departments and identified more than 25 host departments ready to mentor a student fellow in an ongoing basic science or clinical research project. In many cases, the FAER application process stimulated the discovery of local summer research funding within the medical school. For students serving their fellowships locally, FAER served as the “matchmaker.” Students leaving their home university typically required external funding for their research fellowship, and FAER’s program made this possible.

The fellowship requires 15 percent clinical anesthesiology experience to ensure that the preceptorship is not only “research” but distinctly “anesthesiology.” The grant includes travel support for students to present a synopsis of their research experience at a student seminar during the ASA Annual Meeting. This session, moderated by Donn M. Dennis, M.D. (University of Florida), showcases the students’ experience and allows them to become acquainted with one another and to meet some genuine giants of academic anesthesiology while attending the premier anesthesiology conference in the world. In 2005, nearly all the student fellows traveled to the Annual Meeting in Atlanta for this session.

The first post-fellowship surveys of the student fellows have been extremely positive and encouraging. All of the 2005 survey respondents intend to include research as a “major portion” of their career and nearly all plan to do so as an anesthesiologist, including several who entered the fellowship without plans to choose anesthesiology as their specialty. FAER plans to track the careers of our student fellows to determine the impact of the fellowship on their specialty and research futures. Experience in other settings, however, strongly suggests that such “early intervention” does yield results. Long-term follow-up of medical student recipients of National Institutes of Health¹ and Howard Hughes Medical Institute² research training grants suggests that FAER is on the right track. Time will tell.

References:
1. Solomon SS, Tom SC et al. Impact of medical student research in the development of physician-scientists. J Investigative Med. 2003; 51(3):149-156.
2. Fang D, Meyer RE. Effect of two Howard Hughes Medical Institute research training programs for medical students on the likelihood of pursuing research careers. Academic Med. 2003; 78(12):1271-1280.

Alexander A. Hannenberg, M.D., is Associate Chair, Department of Anesthesia, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts.