Primary care physician scientist

[teetotaler14]

Is it possible for an MD trained in primary care but without a PhD or prior research experience to eventually become a physician scientist? If so, what specific type of additional training (beyond residency), if any, would one need to do this? I'm asking this as a family medicine resident who is interested in a possible research career (either basic science or clinical/public health research).

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[Lucca]

Depending on the type of research you want to do you might want to contact a mentor already doing it and ask about post doc or similar training opportunities in the field.

I'm not a physician but when looking for summer programs at hospitals and medical schools I usually see some kind of post graduate training that accepts MDs looking to gain new skills.

 

[wholeheartedly]

There are definitely a ton of primary care folks doing it where I work and where I go to grad school.


Where I work has a ton of resources though. For example we have certificate programs and post doctoral masters degree programs in clinical and translational science, as well as strong mentorship pathways. There are also some short courses and even a few online. Research runs the gamut out to outcomes research and community based participatory research.

http://www.mayo.edu/ctsa

Where I go to grad school we have primary care folks working on various master's degrees such as MPH in epidemiology or M.S. in clinical research and the like.

I think your best best is to just search around a ton on the net.