Educating Scientists in Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine: Unmet Needs and Challenges

Translational medicine is a complex and multidisciplinary network of activities that requires a large number of different competencies. There is a high demand of people with the necessary skills to successfully coordinate these processes. These skills range from understanding scientific and regulatory processes to intellectual property and entrepreneurial related aspects. While it has become clear that new programs are needed to educate such specialists, not many programs addressing this demand are currently being offered. In this review, we will discuss the need for translational and entrepreneurial medicine and its challenges, the importance of educating people with very unique skills to embrace these challenges and discuss available educational programs in translational medicine in terms of their curriculum, but also pedagogical concepts. Finally, we will present a new program in translational and entrepreneurial medicine, which we are developing at the newly created Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine.