Radiology residency selection committees should consider undergraduate and medical school rankings and publications, medical school research year, and additional advanced degrees to recruit future academic radiologists, according to a study published online March 12 by Academic Radiology.

Many have tried to target which variables on residency applications consistently identify those likely to pursue an academic career in radiology, yet findings thus far have been inconsistent. Lead author Lars J. Grimm, MD, MHS, of Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C., and colleagues evaluated a diverse range of elements from radiology residency applications from two institutions that spanned 20 years to identify any predictive values of future academic radiology careers.

The authors’ analysis included 336 radiologists, 231 of whom were men and 105 of whom were women. Of the study population, 21 percent were classified as academic. A positive association was observed between an academic career and attending an elite undergraduate school, publishing a peer-reviewed manuscript during undergraduate school, receiving an advanced degree, attending an elite medical school, pursuing a dedicated year of research in medical school and publishing a peer-reviewed manuscript in medical school. An academic career was also positively associated with the applicant’s number of publications during medical school.

Multivariate cross-validation analysis demonstrated that the 19 total analyzed variables could collectively predict whether or not an applicant will pursue an academic career.

“Radiology residency selection committees should consider these results if they are planning on recruiting resident applicants for future academic careers,” concluded Grimm and colleagues.