LAUSR

For over 100 years, physicianscientists have been at the forefront of major biomedical breakthroughs that have directly impacted clinical care. At its core, this career provides the opportunity to deliver clinical care while simultaneously advancing biomedicine through research. This path affords clinicians the creative freedom to solve important health problems. From a qualityoflife perspective, it can mean having more flexibility and control over your time, enhancing worklife balance. However, this track will also involve longer years of training, periods of financial uncertainty, and varying levels of stress associated with publishing and securing research grants. Here we attempt to highlight the main issues we have encountered as cardiovascular physicianscientists. Our perspectives are those of an early career physicianscientist (JLM) supported by a mentored career development award, and an established physicianscientist (PN) with multiple independent research grants. Because we both work in the USA, our perspectives may not be generalisable.