Research: getting started in an academic setting.

Surgeons who choose a position in an academic teaching center have chosen to incorporate research and education into their clinical practice. These clinicians-scientists need passion, an inquiring mind, pertinent questions, time, money, and a research team to pursue a lifetime of intellectual challenges and patient care. The desire and passion for research is a critical requirement. An "inquiring mind" has to have a relevant question that is feasible to be tested and attain an answer. Adequate time carved into one's weekly schedule will greatly facilitate research productivity. Pursuit of money will also assist in obtaining the support personnel to help gather data, communicate with institutional review boards, and write grants and manuscripts. All these components will be critical members of the "research team." Established teams can also greatly facilitate orthopaedic research by joining groups that are doing multicenter studies with established studies. This can be a great learning experience and introduction into multicenter research.