Why recruitment in pediatric medical and research fields is so important

Dr. Stewart Goldman is a pediatric oncologist and physician-scientist who is the Chair of the Department of Child and Senior Vice President of Research at Phoenix Children’s and the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix. He joined Arizona Horizon to discuss why recruitment is so important in the pediatric medical and research fields.

Phoenix Children’s and the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix are advancing clinical excellence and innovation through the recruitment of world-renowned physician-researchers and surgeon-scientists to transform pediatric care today and for the future.

Dr. Goldman oversees a research program comprising 700 studies, 640 research investigators and 90 research staff members. Recently, Dr. Goldman recruited two world-renowned physician-scientists to expand new research efforts to improve quality outcomes for children facing various illnesses.

“There’s a critical shortage of physicians going into pediatrics for a multitude of reasons, and those who go on to a world of research is even a smaller percentage. There’s many difficulties; the need for continuous funding, for the time and mentoring, all things that we’re going to try and make an impact on with the Phoenix Children’s Research Institute at the University of Arizona College of Medicine,” Dr. Goldman said.

People with these skills are needed desperately, Dr. Goldman said. One of the goals is to recruit senior, well-established investigators to grow scientists from our community. Mentoring is important for training and retaining physician-scientists in the Valley. Another goal is to cover all aspects of childhood diseases.

Recruiting top-notch researchers is not only good for the community, but it is also a catalyst for grant and federal money.

“That’s one of the most important reasons that we’ve developed the Research Institute, to collaborate our long-standing relationship between an extremely strong children’s hospital and our medical school at the University of Arizona. Together, not only will we bring in these top-notch researchers who bring in federal funds, but they themselves will also attract other scientists and will be mentors to the students that will be our future physicians,” Dr. Goldman said.