Factors associated with infectious diseases fellowship academic success

ABSTRACT

Background

A multitude of factors are considered in an infectious disease (ID) training program’s meticulous selection process of ID fellows but their correlation to pre and in-fellowship academic success as well as post-fellowship academic success and short-term outcomes is poorly understood. Our goal was to investigate factors associated with subsequent academic success in fellowship as well as post-fellowship short-term outcomes.

Methods

In 2022, we retrospectively analyzed deidentified academic records from 39 graduates of the Mayo Clinic Rochester ID Fellowship Program (1 July 2013- 30 June 2022). Data abstracted included demographics, degrees, honor society membership, visa/citizenship status, medical school, residency training program, United States Medical Licensure Exam (USMLE) scores, letters of recommendation, in-training examination (ITE) scores, fellowship track, academic rank, career choice, number of honors, awards, and abstracts/publications prior to fellowship, during training, and within 2 years of graduation.

Results

Younger fellows had higher USMLE step 1 scores, pre and in-fellowship scholarly productivity, and higher ITE performance. Female fellows had significantly higher USMLE step 3 scores. Prior research experience translated to greater in-fellowship scholarly productivity. Higher USMLE scores were associated with higher ID ITE performance during multiple years of fellowship, but USMLE step 2 clinical knowledge and 3 scores were associated with higher pre and in-fellowship scholarly productivity and receiving an award during fellowship. The USMLE step 1 score did not correlate with fellowship performance beyond year 1 and 2 ITE scores.

Conclusions

Multiple aspects of a prospective fellow’s application must be considered as part of a holistic review process for fellowship selection. USMLE step 2 CK and 3 scores may predict fellowship performance across multiple domains.

KEYWORDS:

• Infectious diseases fellowship
• academic success
• medical education
• outcomes
• infectious diseases

Disclosure statement

R.R.R. receives research support (funds provided to the institution) from Gilead, Regeneron, Roche, the MITRE corporation, and Nference, Inc. R.R.R. serves on the advisory board for Glaxo Smith Kline and on the Data Safety Monitoring Board for Novartis and the Endpoint Adjudication Committee of Allovir. R.R.R. also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Transplantation. None of these entities have provided support for this current study. Otherwise, R.B.K., Z.A.Y., and C.L.D. have no conflicts of interest to report.

Author contributions

R.B.K. contributed to the conception, design, writing of the man manuscript text, preparation of figures and tables, and review of this manuscript. Z.A.Y. contributed to the conception, design, statistical analysis, preparation, and manuscript review. C.L.D. contributed to the data collection for the manuscript. R.R.R contributed to the conception, design, and manuscript review.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

The Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board reviewed the study protocol and granted it an exempt status (#22–004105) on 6/20/2022. Informed consent was obtained for subjects and found to be in compliance with the learners as research subjects policy at Mayo Clinic. Additionally, all methods and research/study protocols were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations which were reviewed by the Educational Research Committee of the Institutional Review Board and found to be in compliance with the learners as research subjects policy at Mayo Clinic.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by Grant Number [UL1 TR002377] from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.