From the editor: Health care for the uninsured, and encouraging physician-scientists

Many physicians at the School of Medicine have devoted their time and skills to providing free care for the uninsured. But, as we learn in an article by Ayelet Amittay, M.S.N. ’10, such efforts often ran into obstacles and could not always guarantee continuity of care. Now area doctors have founded a local chapter of the national organization Project Access. Project Access-New Haven recruits specialists to take on uninsured patients in New Haven and six neighboring towns. By handling paperwork, scheduling, and other administrative matters, Project Access ensures continuity of care and makes it easy for physicians to donate their services. Both New Haven hospitals support the program and provide ancillary services, including labs and tests. More than 300 area physicians have signed up since last year and more than 100 patients have received treatment.

Our cover story by Colleen Shaddox explores the status of physician-scientists. For almost four decades, concerns in the academy have focused on the difficulties of maintaining dual careers in science and medicine—including longer training periods and lower salaries than those of clinicians in private practice. And as a new generation with strong feelings about the balance between work and life enters the ranks of academic medicine, those concerns have intensified. A committee led by Peter Aronson, M.D., FW ’77, the C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) and professor of cellular and molecular physiology, has been looking into the issue and seeking ways to encourage medical students and young doctors to take this career path.