Clinician-Scientist Pathway (CSP)
The Columbia University Clinician-Scientist Pathway (CSP) in the Department of Medicine provides a seamless track from the first day of residency to application for subspecialty fellowships, with the intention of long-term recruitment as faculty. The CSP Program is fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our pipeline program supports a diverse group of emerging physician-scientists in all aspects of their development, including top-notch intensive clinical training, research and career mentorship, access to leading laboratories, and financial support and resources to aid early successes.
Research at Columbia
For over 250 years, Columbia has been the premier center of medical research and education. Among Columbia’s alumni are pioneers such as Dr. Allen Whipple who created the Whipple procedure, Dr. Dorothy Andersen who discovered cystic fibrosis, Dr. Virginia Apgar who developed the Apgar score, Drs. Andre Cournand and Dickinson Richards who received the Nobel prize for developing cardiac catheterization, Dr. Eric Rose who performed the first successful pediatric heart transplant, Dr. Nancy Wexler for identifying the gene responsible for Huntington’s disease, and Dr. Angela Christiano who discovered the first human gene associated with hair loss. Among Columbia’s professors or alumni are 83 Nobel laureates including Dr. Eric Kandel (2000) for his work on the molecular basis of memory, Dr. Richard Axel (2004) for his work in determining the molecular logic of the sense of smell, and Prof. Joachim Frank (2017) for developing cryo-electron microscopy for high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution, applicable to nearly every protein. This rich legacy of excellence, and discovery and development, that has a profound effect on all of humanity, permeates the entire institution. The Department of Medicine ranks within the top 5 departments in the US for NIH funding annually.
Curricular Highlights of CSP
CSP residents have access to the full compendium of resources at Columbia that support researcher development. The Office for Research is available to provide resources and multi-dimensional support to facilitate individual research endeavors. In addition, CSP residents are encouraged to attend the researcher development workshops offered throughout the year which include guidance and resources across all stages of clinical and laboratory research, public presentation, and writing and pursuing grant applications.
Specifically, within the Department of Medicine, CSP residents are enrolled into an annual seminar series presented by Dr. Jamie Rubin, Professor of Medicine and Vice Chair for Investigator Development, concerning the process of seeking and obtaining stage-specific (e.g. Fellow; Instructor; Assistant Professor level) research funding. CSP residents also conduct Departmental Grand Rounds to introduce their research to the faculty and Departmental leadership. Under the guidance of faculty mentors, they lead Molecular Medicine Rounds that bring bench to the bedside by describing how the underlying biology (pathophysiology and molecular pathophysiology) undergird the clinical presentation and management of a patient, and a monthly Journal Club to explore rapidly changing diagnostic and therapeutic discoveries.
Program Structure
Trainees in the Clinician-Scientist pathway complete 2 or 3 years of residency in anticipation of advanced clinical and research fellowship training. CSP residents participate in all aspects of clinical training, including rotations on the general medicine and specialty wards, in the intensive-care units, and on ambulatory blocks. The Department of Medicine strongly encourages CSP residents to continue their advanced clinical and scientific training in one of its fellowships, and it seeks to recruit future faculty investigators from among its research-oriented fellows through postdoctoral research and subsequently by promotion to faculty.
Irving-Heaney Scholarship
The Irving -Heaney Scholarship provides funds ($10,000/year) to support the residents research work during residency. The money can be used in a number of ways, such as, for a technician or research associate in the mentor’s lab to initiate bench/computational research while the resident is focused primarily on clinical education. In addition, time is allotted during residency training to attend the mentor’s lab meetings and conferences and for travel to one medical conference per year to present data.
Sample current projects include:
Steven Su shs7036@nyp.org
Title: The Effects of Bacterial Lactate and Other Metabolites on BE and EAC Growth and Progression
Mentors: Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, PhD; Joel Gabre, MD; Julian Abrams, MD
Aleksander Obradovic azo2104@cumc.columbia.edu
Title: Spatial RNA-Sequencing of Prostate
Mentors: Andrea Califano, PhD; Catherine Spina, MD, PhD
Samuel Resnick sjr2179@cumc.columbia.edu
Title: A non-invasive tool to study host gut transcriptome in humans with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Mentors: Harris H. Wang, PhD; Daniel E. Freedberg, MD
Mentorship
Each resident in the Clinician-Scientist pathway is assigned a scientific advisor and has regular meetings with a mentorship advisory board comprising a Faculty Director of CSP (Dr. Jonathan Barasch MD PhD, Barry Fine MD PhD, Joel Gabre MD), the Chair of the Department of Medicine (Dr. Ali. Gharavi, MD), the Vice Chair for Research (Dr. Ira Tabas MD PhD) and the Vice Chair for Researcher Development (Dr. Jaime Rubin PhD). The goal of these meetings is to identify a research mentor early during residency and promote interactions within the subspecialty interest of the resident. The resident is expected to meet regularly with both their key faculty advisors as well as their research mentors during clinical training.
Financial Support
All CSP residents are paid according to New York Presbyterian’s standardized pay which is among the highest in the country. Currently, PGY1s earn $81,000, PGY2s $89,700, and PGY3s $97,000. Please our page on Frequently Asked Questions for full details of the extensive financial support and benefits available to our residents. The Irving-Heaney Scholarship is separate from and in addition to these benefits.
How to Apply
Applicants interested in CSP should apply to the main categorical internal medicine residency program and select “Clinician Scientist Pathway” to be considered for CSP. CSP does not have a separate NRMP code. We also do not have a strict number of CSP positions. For more information, see our How to Apply page.
For additional information, please contact Ms. Gladys Bueso at MedResApplicant@cumc.columbia.edu or Jonathan Barasch, MD, PhD, at jmb4@cumc.columbia.edu.
Current Trainees
Aleksander Obradovic, Edd Ricker, Sam Resnick, Thomas Savage, Steven Su, Nathan Suek, Johannes Melms, Meera Trivedi, Bryan Wang.