This leadership minute will provide an overview of how the U.S. Graduate Medical Education funding model works, including discussion of possible mechanisms to increase funding lines in your program.

K Awardees are in an exciting and pivotal period in their careers, building technical, communication, and mentoring skills to lead their own research teams. This period is also one of great vulnerability, with competing demands in their lives as scientists, clinicians, and teachers, as well as in their personal lives. The support of departmental leaders and faculty mentors is absolutely critical in helping K awardees navigate these potential barriers to develop their own creative and high-impact research program.

There is a significant shortage of neurologists in the United States.  Much of the potential neurology workforce is non-US international medical graduates who have limitations based on the rules of the J-1 visa program.  Understanding how to use the waiver system can be beneficial in improving recruitment of neurologists.

As leaders in neurology, it is vital for our health care system to recruit and to retain and diverse workforce. Institutional advocacy for international medical graduates (IMGs) can improve retention efforts for a department both for patient care as well as for growth into global and diversified research networks. In this episode, we will discuss the pathway for an IMG to train and work in the US and some of the issues that it is important to know about to help promote the career success and satisfaction of international physicians.

While faculty recruitment is always an important job for department leadership, retaining high-performing faculty may have a greater impact over time. This Leadership Minute discusses some strategies to optimize faculty retention in an increasing competitive environment for neurologists.

Measurement of clinical performance, driven by the requirements of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, accrediting bodies like The Joint Commission, and benchmarking companies like Vizient, is ubiquitous in academic neurology. Forward-thinking department chairs have an opportunity to design and implement highly effective, sustainable quality improvement programs by emphasizing faculty training, recognition, and collaboration.

Therapy development in Neurology is accelerated by strong partnerships between academia, industry and government. Academic/industry fellowships can increase the number of neurologists trained in clinical trials and therapy development. HEALEY ALS Platform trial is one example of successful academic/industry partnership.

Clinical research has been integral to medical progress since the time of Hippocrates; without it, laboratory discoveries would never translate into human therapies.  However, in contrast to basic science research (which has a clear career path undergirded by prestigious federal support), the keys to building a successful clinical research enterprise often seem shrouded in mystery to many department chairs and their senior leaders.  In this summary, we outline the hidden strategies for building successful and fiscally sound clinical research. 

A major challenge in academic neurology departments is supporting basic and translational research.  As clinical revenue becomes increasingly important to the financial health of Neurology Departments, supporting non-clinical activities such as teaching and research has become increasingly difficult.

This is especially problematic for physician scientists, many of which require several years of both salary and research support.

So how can you build research in your Department?

Understanding the relationship between the recruitment and retention of faculty is vital to the growth and success of every Department of Neurology. The well documented shortage of Neurologists in the US makes having an effective program essential.