• Hamid Reza Bidkhori, Ahmad Reza Bahrami, Shadi Mehrzad, Hamed Bakhshi, Rahele Miri, Mohammad Reza Hedayati-Moghaddam, Bardia Shabani, Halimeh Hasanzadeh, Majid Danaee, Seyed Aliakbar Shamsian, Arash Akhavan-Rezayat, Parisa Mohebbi, Farahnaz Rohani, and Maryam M Matin.
• Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Research Department, Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research (ACECR)-Khorasan Razavi, Mashhad, Iran.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2021 Aug 1; 27 (4): 799-808.

Rationale, Aims, And ObjectivesCell-based therapeutics are among the latest advances in health care technologies. The rapid evolution of stem cell science in Iran has necessitated the application of scientific achievements in clinical settings. However, various issues hindered their translation, in particular, impediments in the interactions of basic stem cell scientists and clinicians. We highlighted the impediments in the interactions of stem cell scientists and physicians involved in the opinion of professionals from both groups.MethodThis qualitative research was conducted with thematic analysis, performed by purposive sampling. Thirty-two distinguished stem cell scientists and clinicians were interviewed to identify their perspectives on this matter. MAXQDA 2018 was used to classify the axial codes based on factors related to communications inefficiencies. The analysis of coded data recognized 18 subthemes and six major themes.ResultsCentral themes include different registers of the two parties, counterproductive clusters hampered networking, external communication barriers, the competition to access resources, leadership conflicts, and the dissatisfaction of stakeholders with their share.ConclusionsMost of the impediments were seemingly global, for example, the incoherent medical and basic science educational systems, the vulnerable career path of physician-scientists, and an increasing tendency towards overspecialization. However, some local specific issues were also described, for example, limited funding opportunities and the negative impacts of the division of medical education from the ministry of science, research, and technology in Iran. Proposed interventions include the reinforcement of physician-scientist programs, designing a distributed leadership model, and bringing back the scientific integrity to higher education in Iran.© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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