Project Summary
The Clinician Scholar Career Development Program (CSCDP) is an annual two-day training workshop
for orthopaedic residents in their PGY2-PGY5 years, surgeons in fellowships, and junior faculty
(through year three) who have the potential and desire to become orthopaedic clinician scholars.
Clinician scholars advance the field of orthopaedics through innovative research and peer-reviewed
funding. The CSCDP seeks the best and the brightest; CSCDP participants are selected via a highly
competitive application process. The program was created in 2003 as the Clinician Scientist
Development Program to address a growing concern over the steady decline of orthopaedic clinician
researchers and to confront the lack of basic and clinical research in many residency programs. The
CSCDP has been a partnership between the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS),
the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), and the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation
(OREF) since its inception and has expanded over the years to include more participants and cover a
wide array of issues spanning the career timeline of a clinician scholar. General session topics
include “Beginning Your Career as a Clinician Scientist (Scholar)”; “Orthopaedic Research: Bench or
Bedside?”; “Work-Life Balance”; “Challenges and Successes: Personal Experiences from CSCDP
Graduates”; “Diversity in Orthopaedics”; “Building Blocks for a Successful Clinician Scientist Career”;
“Research Collaboration”. Program participants seek to enhance the competencies needed for
success as both a surgeon and a scientist: scientific knowledge, professionalism, responsible
conduct of research, research skill development, management and leadership skills, and
communication skills. The CSCDP has a proven track record of success and offers world-class
scientific faculty mentors, including department chairs, NIH R01 and other grant recipients, and
highly published authors. The two-day program includes didactic lectures, interactive small group
breakout discussions, networking meals, and interactive panel discussions with faculty. Participants
in the program gain insight into pathways to success in a scholarly career through departmental
support, protected research time, collaboration, funding resources, and work-life balance. They
learn to maximize efficiency based on individual career priorities and increased awareness of grant
funding opportunities. By the end of the program, participants are able to create 5- and 10-year
plans for their career development with concrete clinical and research goals.