Are basic science departments
disappearing from U.S. allopathic
medical schools? Are these
departments being merged and
consolidated into single
organizational units? Numerous
commentators have speculated about
this question over the last several
years, but none has supplied
national data to support their
perspective, one way or the other.
The transformation taking place
in basic science departments is part
of a larger pattern of change in the
basic biomedical sciences.
With advances in cellular and
molecular biology, genetics,
neuroscience, and technology over
the last 50 years, biomedical
science has become increasingly
interdisciplinary. The
organization and administration of
basic sciences in medical schools
have reflected that
interdisciplinary nature. For
example, interdisciplinary research
centers and institutes have become
ubiquitous in research universities
and medical schools.
Additionally, many medical schools
have organized their graduate
training programs around
interdisciplinary programs and
themes either as a substitute for or
in addition to traditional areas of
study. Recent workforce trends
reflect this phenomenon.
According to the Survey of Earned
Doctorates by the National Science
Foundation, between 1985 and 2000,
the number of Ph.D.s awarded in
neuroscience increased 217 percent;
genetics, 114 percent; and cell
biology, 237 percent. Over the
same period, the number of new
anatomy Ph.D.s declined 70 percent;
pathology, 5 percent; and physiology
remained flat.
It is in this context of
broad-scale change to the
organization of biomedical research
and training that emerges the
concern over departmental structure.
Some commentators have supported the
notion that the discipline-based
department in an anachronism that
impedes efficiency and scientific
progress. Others assert that
the department is a necessary
gatekeeper of discipline-based
methods, values, and research and
teaching quality.
In this IAMSE audio seminar, Dr.
Mallon reviewed the results of a
recent study on the reorganization
of basic science departments as U.S.
medical schools. The data
revealed a complex story. On
one hand, the basic sciences, as an
organizational unit in medical
schools, continue to thrive and
grow. On average, U.S. medical
schools had more, not fewer, basic
science departments and more, not
fewer, basic science faculty members
at the end of the 20th century
compared with two decades earlier.
On the other hand, there has been
consolidation of the five
traditional discipline-based basic
science departments (Anatomy,
Biochemistry, Microbiology,
Physiology, and Pharmacology),
especially in the mid- to
late-1990s. The most common
new departments — in the areas of
neuroscience and genetics —
reflected the emergence of
interdisciplinary avenues of
research. The analysis
demonstrated that the most
widespread change in structure of
basic science departments was not in
the addition or subtraction of
departments, but rather in less
dramatic changes to existing
departments. Most frequently,
by far, basic science departments
altered their names, presumably
either to indicate a refocusing of
research mission and purpose or to
improve the attractiveness of
programs to graduate students and
new faculty members.
home
