Image by Verónica Pablo The seven clinician-scientists’ BITRECS fellows.
BITRECS Biomedicine international training research programme for excellent clinician-scientists (2017-2023) Project Objectives
BITRECS aims at recruiting promising postdoctoral clinician-scientists researchers with clinical background, to help them become clinicianscientists leaders in the future. The programme is a way of fighting against the decrease on the number of those professionals in Europe and beyond. To preserve them is important for both their understanding of health problems directly from their clinical practice and their availability to perform genuine translational research.
Creating paths for clinician-scientists
Project Funding
Clinician-scientists combine clinical expertise with a background in research, and so are ideally placed to both treat disease and understand the underlying mechanisms. With the numbers of clinician-scientists in decline, the BITRECS programme has been established to help train the next generation and foster the scientific leaders of the future, as Elías Campo explains. The priority for
clinicians is always to provide high-quality care, which rests on a deep understanding of the different options available to treat a specific condition. While clinicians focus on the needs of their patients, scientific researchers aim to uncover deeper insights into disease and develop improved treatments, now the BITRECS programme aims to bridge the gap between basic and clinical science. “The idea behind this European Union COFUND Fellowship Programme that is also supported by ‘La Caixa’ Foundation is to extend training opportunities to people who wear these two hats, as both a clinician and also as a researcher, what is called a clinician-scientist,” explains Elías Campo, Director at IDIBAPS, a Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona devoted to excellent translational research. IDIBAPS is associated with the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, a renowned tertiary public university hospital. “A clinician-scientist is an invaluable asset in both research and medical settings, and they have played an important role in strengthening the existing link between the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and IDIBAPS,” says Campo. This hospital has shown a historical commitment to research, with a fixed percentage of physician’s salaries donated to programmes promoting this activity. In line with this agenda, IDIBAPS was created in 1996, and since 2011 it has run its own specific funding schemes to promote the clinician-scientist career path.
Clinician-scientist This is not however a common career path, and the number of clinician-scientists is decreasing both in Europe and beyond. It is becoming ever more difficult to recruit highly skilled graduates into a career as a clinician-scientist, and then to subsequently retain them, in part because of the attractiveness of the other options available, such as positions dedicated entirely to treating patients. This is an issue of which Campo is well aware. “Sometimes the contractual opportunities offered by the research system are not really attractive in
them will also spend part of their time abroad at a hosting partner institution. “The idea is that participating in BITRECS allows them to focus on developing their research skills, to become the scientific leaders of the future,” outlines Campo. This is the result of involving many IDIBAPS stakeholders that provide their expertise to the programme under the coordination of the IDIBAPS Institutional Actions Office, which is run by its Head, Gemma Pascual, and the BITRECS programme manager, Agustín Rodríguez. The fellows had complete freedom in choosing the subject they wanted to address, with projects
A clinician-scientist is an invaluable asset in both research and medical settings, and they have played an important role in strengthening the existing link between the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and IDIBAPS. comparison to what they may be offered elsewhere, so more competitive opportunities should be provided,” he acknowledges. The BITRECS programme aims to address this issue by giving post-doctoral researchers excellent working conditions together with the opportunity to focus solely on research, while also supporting their career development and providing mentoring and advice. The fellows are conducting research projects over a three-year period, during which they will be working at IDIBAPS and some of
are completely isolated from their medical colleagues and peers. Alongside conducting their research, the fellows also are encouraged to attend seminars and consult with colleagues on any particularly interesting clinical cases. “The fellows should participate in these kinds of activities and maintain professional relationships while they are dedicated to research,” outlines Campo. To enlarge their network of collaborators or disseminate their work abroad the fellows were also encouraged to attend training or networking activities supported with funding provided by the programme. However, the main priority for BITRECS is research, and the vision is that the fellows will choose to pursue a career combining clinical work and research once they have left the programme. “At IDIBAPS we are putting a lot of thought into the future career opportunities open to the fellows,” he says.
Career options The researchers themselves were asked to design a career development plan at the beginning of their fellowship, as well as a plan for the dissemination and exploitation of their
in BITRECS covering a wide variety of topics; the common denominator is the quality of the research. “IDIBAPS wanted excellent research projects that could have a positive health impact,” says Campo “Although each research project is unique, all of them are focused on specific diseases and trying to develop improved treatments or strategies to better manage those disorders.” A high degree of focus as well as technical knowledge is required for this kind of research, yet this does not mean that the fellows
results. The fellows have already published a relevant amount of peer-reviewed scientific articles. At the same time they also have access to specific support, if they want to protect or even exploit any results arising from their projects, prior to publication. The programme itself is set to conclude around the middle of 2023, but the Institute is looking into the possibility of extending it, reflecting on its impact and the wider importance of training the next generation of clinician-scientists. This is part of the wider aim of encouraging the development of clinician-scientists, enhancing their professional profile and promoting impactful translational research. Clinician-scientists have an important role to play in connecting basic and clinical science, contributing to the goal of creating a wide impact on science and ultimately bringing benefits to patients and our society. Campo aims to heighten awareness of career possibilities in this area. “What we know is that IDIBAPS wants to continue offering positions in future to clinician-scientists from all research career steps,” he says.
The project has received the funding of: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement 754550) and “La Caixa” Foundation (agreement LCF/PR/ GN18/50310006).
Outgoing hosting institutions
• Centre for Immunology and Vaccinology at Imperial College London (UK) • Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology at University College London (UK) • Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London (UK) • The Prince Charles Hospital (Australia) • University of Würzburg (Germany).
Contact Details
Gemma Pascual Agustín Rodríguez IDIBAPS Institutional Actions Office T: +34 933129401 E: bitrecs@idibaps.org W: https://www.clinicbarcelona.org/en/idibaps W: https://bitrecs.idibaps.org
Professor Elías Campo
Photo of a clinician-scientist.
Elías Campo is the Director of IDIBAPS, excellent biomedical research institute linked to Hospital Clínic of Barcelona pursuing translational research. He is also an outstanding clinician-scientist leading research on the pathology of lymphoid neoplasms. He is at the forefront of BITRECS programme and other funding schemes to promote the career development of clinician-scientists.
All BITRECS fellows work to have a positive impact on the understanding and management of different diseases, with the ultimate aim of trying to benefit society: Marco Antonio Alba on granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Helena Ariño on autoimmune encephalitis, Lorna Leal on HIV and SARSCoV2 infections, Gianluigi Li Bassi on acute respiratory distress syndrome and infection of SARS-CoV2, Gerardo Rodríguez Lobato on multiple myeloma, Isabel Valli on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and Norma Verdolini also on bipolar disorder but at the same time considering the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative effects on mental health.
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