Opinion: During the Vietnam War, these physician-scientists were called ‘yellow berets.’ They are what we need to fight Covid-19
As we face off against Covid-19, we urgently need physician-scientists who can quickly translate observations made at patients’ bedsides into therapies. Sadly, they are in short supply.
Physicians who also have extensive training in scientific methods, often a Ph.D., are ideally suited to learn from the unusual clinical manifestations of Covid-19, such as strokes in young adults and autoimmune Kawasaki syndrome in children. Physician-scientists, however, are becoming extinct in the United States, comprising only about 1% of all physicians today, and with few young clinician researchers joining their ranks.
