• Adam Pietrobon, Lucia Chehadé, Alexandra Beaudry-Richard, Brian A Keller, and Michael G Schlossmacher.
• The Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research, Regenerative Medicine Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON.
• Clin Invest Med. 2020 Jun 28; 43 (2): E1-13.

PurposeIntegrated MD/PhD programs are relatively new in Canada and represent a platform to train the next generation of clinician-scientists. However, MD/PhD programs vary substantially by structure, funding and mentorship opportunities, and there exists a paucity of data on the overall students' successes and challenges. The purpose of this study is to assess objective and subjective metrics of the MD/PhD Program at the University of Ottawa.MethodsStudents in all years of the program were invited to complete a 58- question survey, and the resulting data were analyzed by descriptive statistics.ResultsOur survey had an 88.5% (23/26) participation rate. The program has been gaining interest and the number of applications increased by 178% between 2013 and 2018. Tuition support was considered an essential element in accepting the admission offer, as 47.8% of students would have declined admission without full tuition coverage. The MD/PhD students were heavily engaged in scholarly activities, with an average of 8.3 presentations/ publications per respondent. Respondents indicated low satisfaction with formal career planning advice (28.6% satisfied/very satisfied) and program transition guidance (22.2%). When delivered informally by peers, both career planning advice and program transition guidance were experienced as more satisfying (65.2% and 63.6%, respectively). Only 34.8% of survey respondents identified as female, highlighting the challenge of achieving diversity in clinician-scientist training programs.ConclusionOur report contributes to the body of knowledge on concrete obstacles experienced by students within MD/PhD programs and key areas that can be improved upon-locally, provincially and nationally-to further advance student success.

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