Physician-SCIENTIST or PHYSICIAN-Scientist

[DKlein]

I think its true that many schools place varying emphasis on the type of MD-PhD they want to produce. In my limited knowledge, schools like Duke seem to want to produce PHYSICIAN-Scientists, while Hopkins leans more towards SCIENTIST.


Those of you who have some knowledge of the intricacies of higher tier MDPhD programs, what have you found? Do most schools want to train PhDs with some medical experience? Personally, I am very interested in research, but clinical aspects are more important to me. Are there other strong schools that are interested in training MDs with research experience, rather than PhDs with medical knowledge?

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[beary]

I think its true that many schools place varying emphasis on the type of MD-PhD they want to produce. In my limited knowledge, schools like Duke seem to want to produce PHYSICIAN-Scientists, while Hopkins leans more towards SCIENTIST.


Those of you who have some knowledge of the intricacies of higher tier MDPhD programs, what have you found? Do most schools want to train PhDs with some medical experience? Personally, I am very interested in research, but clinical aspects are more important to me. Are there other strong schools that are interested in training MDs with research experience, rather than PhDs with medical knowledge?

I agree with you that schools vary somewhat on their emphasis on clinical and scientific experience. At Iowa, I would say that the emphasis is on science, since we get a very abbreviated fourth year of med school. However, I think this is great, since fourth year is largely a waste of time anyway. So much post-doctoral training is necessary in both medicine and research and you will have a chance to develop your skills further in whatever area you choose.

 

[Wertt]

At most places I've visited the magic number seems to be 1 day a week in clinic, the rest spent in research. So yeah, definitely physician-SCIENTIST