Opinion: Graduate biomedical education needs an overhaul. Here’s our version
One of the great educational success stories is that graduate training can teach individuals how to do deep scientific investigation. Today, such training, which dates back to the middle of the 19th century, is in desperate need of an overhaul.
The amount of scientific knowledge has exploded, giving rise to new fields in science with differing concepts, tools, and cultures. The training of new scientists has become a highly specialized endeavor that frequently emphasizes the acquisition of factual knowledge instead of skills that are essential for good scientific practice, such as critical thinking, rigorous research design, analysis, and philosophy of science. Many training programs today turn out young scientists with overly narrow interests and
