The effects of XXXX Society fellowships on career choice.

@entity4207 @entity625
OBJECTIVE: To find out if The @entity625 Society (TAS) fellowship grants influenced career choice or career development. METHODS: Two hundred former TAS training fellowship recipients (1975-1990 inclusive) were sent a questionnaire to evaluate the effects of TAS clinical or research fellowship support on their subsequent career development. RESULTS: One hundred and forty (70%) completed questionnaires were returned by 88 clinical and 37 research fellowship recipients--a further 17 had received both a clinical and a research fellowship. Fifty-one percent of the respondents are now @entity4207 rheumatologists, 40% in community practice and 9% still in training. Seventy-three percent of the research fellowship recipients currently receive research grant support, compared to 16% of the former clinical fellowship recipients. Seventy-one percent agreed that their TAS fellowship support had "directly or indirectly influenced or facilitated their chosen career path"--this included 100% of the research fellowship recipients, compared to 55% of the clinical fellowship recipients. The majority decided on an @entity4207 or a community based career path during their postgraduate training. Fourteen percent who trained for an @entity4207 career are now in community practice and 9% who planned on a community based career later became @entity4207 rheumatologists. Eighty-nine respondents (64%) enclosed a CV. This subset was further analyzed using career markers such as @entity4207 rank, number and size of research grants and number of publications. In this subset those who had received both a clinical and a research fellowship had the most advanced @entity4207 rank (22% full professor), largest number of publications (n = 39) and largest number of grants (5.3/year; average  40,446), compared to former research fellowship recipients: 4.0% full professor, 22 publications, 3.2 grants/year; average  25,164. Recipients of clinical fellowships in this subset had lower levels of all the @entity4207 career markers. CONCLUSION: Of 200 consecutive TAS fellowship recipients 71% of those responding (n = 140) to a career tracking study agreed that the fellowship support "directly or indirectly" influenced or facilitated their career choice. An apparent synergistic effect of providing both clinical and research fellowships on subsequent development of an @entity4207 career deserves further study.
