Your ability to be retained and advanced within a given institution will largely be determined by:

a. Your fundraising ability.
b. Your patient-care revenue.
c. Your volume of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
d. All of the above.

The correct answer is (d). Your prospects for retention and advancement within a given institution will likely be based on factors such as the following:

• Your effectiveness in fundraising for research and other key program activities. Whether for better or worse, teaching and ongoing research depend on effective fundraising, which may come in the form of research grants, research scientist awards, NIH funds, foundation and industry grants, chair endowments, and other sources. Although teaching is important, your ability in fundraising will be of equal or greater importance.
• Your ability to generate revenue through patient care services. For faculty involved in clinical positions, revenue generated through patient care can be an important source of department funding, providing a very helpful adjunct to research funds. However, profitability in an academic practice usually proves difficult due to the combination of relatively lower-paying patients and above-average overhead costs found in most settings. Nonetheless, most institutions expect clinical faculty to maintain a busy patient load in addition to other duties.
• Your ability to be published within peer-reviewed journals. The essence of any teaching institution is its ongoing research, reported within peer-reviewed professional journals. Publication provides an effective yardstick for measuring the program’s effectiveness and progress in research, helping to promote its reputation and attract continued funding. Of course in doing so, your personal reputation is likely to be enhanced as well.
• Your stature among peers within the specialty. Stature enhances institutional prestige and reputation, which leads to greater support in fundraising activities. Stature may be measured in terms of your research prowess, your innovation in new technology or techniques, or your role in developing the current state of the art. This may also be measured in the volume of lectures you’re invited to present at professional conferences and at institutions besides your own. Developing this stature is a prime goal of most physicians in academic medicine and should be a priority for you too.
• Your interpersonal and communication skills. No matter how intellectually brilliant you may be, much of your success will depend on effectively motivating others. The essence of teaching and research is the ability to communicate knowledge to others. Effective academicians are able to master interpersonal skills and the written/spoken word, helping others to understand and learn.
• Your ability to make the institution’s goals your own. The academic institution is not the place for those with a high degree of independence or a need for control. The organization is much bigger than you are and this fact must be accepted if you’re to succeed in academia. Those who constantly press against the tide are often invited to find their happiness elsewhere. Those who are able to motivate others in advancing the institution often find themselves advancing personally in the process.

Return to original article and questions.

From Future Focus®