Is it possible to conduct research outside of one's speciality?

[Spinietzschon]

I hope this is not a repeat but I can't find anything so here goes (note - I also posted this in the other research category as I'm not sure where I'd get more people who would care/answer who know):

Is it possible to conduct research outside of your speciality? What I am thinking (random example) is a neurosurgeon who decides to pick up 12hrs/wk after 8 years devoted to, say, basic dengue research, a particular interest to him for some reason, with no overlap w/neurology?

Or, are there hurdles to something like this that not only make it uncommon but very very difficult to do (not counting he wouldn't have time or he wouldn't probably know enough to be useful. Counting things like absolutely unheard of to award a grant as soon as they look at your certification, etc etc).

Thank you very much!

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[Neuronix]

Is it possible to conduct research outside of your speciality? What I am thinking (random example) is a neurosurgeon who decides to pick up 12hrs/wk after 8 years devoted to, say, basic dengue research, a particular interest to him for some reason, with no overlap w/neurology?

In theory it is possible, but it would be very unlikely and rather stupid. You would get absolutely killed by ID docs and PhD researchers who spend all their time looking at that phenomenon. Your ability (time/money/lab space) to do research is based on your ability to get funding, and you don't get it 12 hours a week looking at things you don't work on. You might get it if you spend 40 hours a week looking at things you are also a clinical expert on.

What makes much more sense if you want to be a part-time researcher is to use your niche within say neurosurgery to do clinical research and/or provide samples to other specialists and help them in their studies. If you plan on research part-time, you do not need a PhD and I would encourage you not to persue MD/PhD.

 

[Choculitis]

What makes much more sense if you want to be a part-time researcher is to use your niche within say neurosurgery to do clinical research and/or provide samples to other specialists and help them in their studies. If you plan on research part-time, you do not need a PhD and I would encourage you not to persue MD/PhD.

What do you consider part time research? I.e. at roughly what clinical/research breakdown do you think it's worthwhile to get an MD/PhD as opposed to just MD?

 

[Spinietzschon]

I can certainly appreciate the disadvantage one would be at devoting a small % in another field compared to talented full time researchers.

And to both first responses, I am personally wanting to go MD, if I went back and got a PhD it would be for the experience as I have enjoyed my time so far. I posted in this section because I figured this audience would be the most knowledgable about the hypothetical; the other post in the other research thread has gotten quite a few views but not one response.

I'm thinking like, pretending you'd have the time to be good with your family and a 50-60hr week at some point where you're in stride in your MD, and you actually just sortof liked another very different subject area's research, could you be at all useful in mostly a hobby (not top notch competitively or for cash but just to be involved and helpful at some level) area?

More realistically, I don't think that I would enjoy endocinology in clinical practice, however some of the research is very fun to me. I just tried to pick fields with little overlap (i.e. neurosurgery and third-world-infectious disease) so people wouldn't avoid the question and hint I should just find a way they overlap and go that way. The question is specifically how to be involved in an unrelated subject area to be involved.

Thanks very much! Sorry for not being more clear from the get-go!

 

[Neuronix]

What do you consider part time research? I.e. at roughly what clinical/research breakdown do you think it's worthwhile to get an MD/PhD as opposed to just MD?

Majority research career. At LEAST 50% research, but preferably 70% or more.

As for picking up research late in a career as more of a hobby. No. Maybe some clinical research with chart reviews or participating in clinical trials, but not serious full-time research or bench research.

 

[QofQuimica]

As Neuronix already explained, you really can't do lab research in an unrelated field as a neurosurgeon. You'd either need to collaborate with a basic researcher if you wanted to do basic research, or you'd be doing clinical research if you wanted to be a PI yourself. There just isn't enough overlap between lab skills and clinical skills for you to be able to do both surgery and lab work at the level you'd need to do either of them in order to be skilled at them.

But you *can* make a niche for yourself in just about any clinical specialty. Such as, there are endocrine tissues in the brain (hypothalamus, pituitary), and endocrine neurosurgery is evidently an established subspecialty. (Google it and see for yourself.) Post-surgical infection is highly relevant to neurosurgery as it is to all types of surgery. If you look at neurosurgery residency curriculums, at least some even require the residents to do a neurosurgical infectious disease rotation. There really isn't any organ or disease process in the human body that isn't somehow related to the nervous system and therefore relevant to neurosurgery.

 

[Spinietzschon]

Thanks - I think something along the lines of the 'niche' was what my answer would be. I appreciate being informed well enough to know how to ask a better question next time!

 

[atsai3]

I hope this is not a repeat but I can't find anything so here goes (note - I also posted this in the other research category as I'm not sure where I'd get more people who would care/answer who know):

Is it possible to conduct research outside of your speciality? What I am thinking (random example) is a neurosurgeon who decides to pick up 12hrs/wk after 8 years devoted to, say, basic dengue research, a particular interest to him for some reason, with no overlap w/neurology?

Or, are there hurdles to something like this that not only make it uncommon but very very difficult to do (not counting he wouldn't have time or he wouldn't probably know enough to be useful. Counting things like absolutely unheard of to award a grant as soon as they look at your certification, etc etc).

Thank you very much!

Probably depends on your PhD field. If you have a PhD in biostatistics, then I would say sure, you can go into unrelated fields-- you could have expertise in applying marginal structural models to observational cohorts, you could have expertise in randomized controlled trial design for drug X Y or Z, etc. As long as you have a basic understanding of the medical field, and an in-depth understanding of the methods that you are applying to the field, I think you'll be fine.

It may be trickier to cross boundaries if your PhD is in a basic science. Not sure what a PhD geneticist would have to say about computational chemistry research, etc.

Furthermore, "conducting research outside of your specialty" is a completely different issue compared to "successfully competing for NIH funding to conduct research outside of your specialty". Whether it matters or not, your clinical qualifications matter to the NIH review committee. By the time you get your fifth R01, it may not matter. But if you are trying to get a K08 or your first R01, you may be at a disadvantage.