Academic medicine is medicine that is practised in an academic setting, such as a university or medical school. It usually involves research, teaching and patient care - often a combination of all three. The work of medical academics is varied; it furthers our understanding through research with patients often based on new discoveries in the laboratory or from fieldwork and, through teaching, passes that knowledge and those skills on to other people. This creation of new knowledge and the development of new skills leads ultimately to improving patient care.
Recent changes have occurred in training of junior doctors throughout the UK. In a similar way, changes to academic careers have been instituted. Doctors wishing to pursue a career in academic medicine now have the opportunity to engage in research throughout their career. In previous times, most academic clinicians would spend several years away from research in order to obtain clinical training. The new system allows doctors to keep up their research skills whilst obtaining clinical training. The new academic career path would now encompass most of the elements below, following recommendations from the Walport Report
Opportunities usually exist to learn about research methods during the undergraduate course at medical school and some will enter medicine already with a degree in another subject (graduate entrants). For a few there are opportunities to combine getting a medical degree with a PhD (MB/PhD courses). The AFP is not the only way to pursue a career in academic medicine. Some participate in research at different stages of the training programme after registration as a doctor whilst others take time out of their medical training to complete a PhD. Others find ways of exploring their interest in teaching and research at a later stage in their careers while continuing their clinical work.