Abstract
Recently, the number of the researcher with medical school background (MD scientist) is rapidly decreasing in the field of basic medical research. The decrease of MD scientists might halt the proceeding of various translational researches and undermine the potential for international competition in the field of medical research. To overcome this issue, MD-PhD course and MD scientist training program were launched at The University of Tokyo in 2002 and 2008, respectively. So far these programs have been noticeably contributing to harvest research mind in medical school students. However, under the present practical training system for medical doctors, we need a new system to make the carrier change from MDs to MD scientists easier even after the practical training. In this article, I will introduce the MD scientist training program at The University of Tokyo and discuss the potential new system suitable for various MD carrier path.
