Impact of advanced clinical fellowship training on future research productivity and career advancement in adult cardiac surgery.

Abstract Background Advanced clinical fellowships are important for training surgeons with a niche expertise. Whether this additional training impacts future academic achievement, however, remains unknown. Here, we investigated the impact of advanced fellowship training on research productivity and career advancement among active, academic cardiac surgeons. We hypothesized that advanced fellowships do not significantly boost future academic achievement. Methods Using online sources (eg, department webpages, CTSNet, Scopus, Grantome), we studied adult cardiac surgeons who are current faculty at accredited United States cardiothoracic surgery training programs, and who have practiced only at United States academic centers since 1986 (n = 227). Publicly available data regarding career advancement, research productivity, and grant funding were collected. Data are expressed as counts or medians. Results In our study, 78 (34.4%) surgeons completed an advanced clinical fellowship, and 149 (65.6%) did not. Surgeons who pursued an advanced fellowship spent more time focused on surgical training (P Conclusion Academic adult cardiac surgeons who pursue advanced clinical fellowships exhibit similar research productivity and similar career advancement as those who do not pursue additional clinical training.