I Would Like to Become a Medical Expert… Any Strategies on Why I Should Be MD, MD/PhD or PhD?

Title: I Would Like to Become a Medical Expert… Any Strategies on Why I Should Be MD, MD/PhD or PhD?

 

Well.. .my idea is always that prior you decide to set yourself on one of these paths do a little clinical shadowing plus some lab research.

 

Some definitions first….

 

MD: Indicates Doctor of Medicine, a doctor’s education in medicine

 

PhD: Is the highest diploma obtained at a university or college, usually requiring 3-5 years of original analysis in a particular field of study.

 

MD/PhD: refers to an education including both the medical training of a medical doctor (MD or DO) with the rigor of a scientific specialist (PhD)

 

You can also like to try to get involved in some clinical research. This will likely get you a taste of the different fields. Some MDs do clinical research, if you decide to discover yourself to be interested in that, you would not need an MD/PhD.

 

You actually have to gain some top notch exposure prior to make any decisions. Neither clinical work nor lab bench effort is just what it may appear like in theory. You will need to get your hands dirty. Attempt to check around, search about them, and obtain several tastes of each one.

 

I believe it’s more easy to find a personality niche when you find yourself content with the specific work you’re doing every single day, rather than make an effort to enjoy doing work you hate, even though you fit the “typical profile” of the career.

 

Generally a double degree is good for those people who are interested in both, basically. However, you do not want to wind up doing most of the actual bench work if you are an MD/PhD. The MD/PhD who’s the P.I. of the laboratory I currently work for NEVER does the actual experiments we currently do, he simply manages administrational stuff and discusses problems/ideas along with his henchmen.

 

All his time in the week is spent on clinical work. I don’t know that may be the way it always works, but this really is my own experience. In case you might be equally interested in both, then I would still think an MD/PhD will probably be worth considering.

 

MD/PhD will place you at some advantage in grant-writing while you’re a new researcher. (Eventually, the degree matters less because research recruiters assess you according to your actual accomplishments.)

 

Imagine that studying scientific research will be easier if you have been trained like a physician. This advantage just isn’t definitely worth the extra 3 years, but it’s somewhat of an advantage. It offers you the flexibleness to view patients if you’d prefer. A slight majority of the MD/PhD’s I’ve come across don’t, but some do and in any case all of them could. It could aid in the pursuit of an academic position too.

 

And you? What exactly are your advantages and disadvantages of selecting a MD, MD/PhD or PhD job?

 

About the author: Sandra J. Ochoa is writing for the http://www.clinicalresearchtraining.net/ clinical research training courses blog, her personal and non-commercial in nature pastime blog to produce free suggestions for clinical research training newbie’s/experts to assist them to get a new profession.