Private practice first then go into academic medicine?

[HarveyCushing]

After completing residency/fellowship, if one decides to go into private practice what are the chances of then switching into academic medicine after 10-15 years of practice? Is that something that would be difficult to accomplish? Basically if you are interested in academic medicine, do you have to aim for that during residency and your fellowship?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dl2dp2]

i know of one such example that might be instructive for you. If you want more information you can contact him directly.

Arnold Kreigstein, currently director of UCSF's stem cell research center.

He had a private practice on migraines in Connecticut for a few years after being a tenured professor at Stanford, but I think that's in the mid 80s. The practice was about 3-5 yrs old when he quit. He then got hired by Columbia. The one catch is that he got an R01 (he told the story where he treated patients during the day and wrote the grant at night, and almost missed the deadline. He dropped his application directly in DC, thinking that he almost missed it, only to realize that lots of applications were sitting quietly by the wall, yet to be processed.)

So the funding situation now is completely different. It may no longer be possible to get an R01 while your are still full time private practice. But I think if you had previous academic track record, i.e. publications, funding record, and have an active grant, being recruited should not be too hard. All in all though, my impression (as a MD/PhD student) is that the different tracks separate very fast and very definitely during residency. You might want to consult your program director about this.

 

[HarveyCushing]

All in all though, my impression (as a MD/PhD student) is that the different tracks separate very fast and very definitely during residency. You might want to consult your program director about this.

Thanks for the post. I had a similar thought as the one above. It seems that if one was more focused on research, that their path would be significantly different than one who was interested in going into pp. However I do know of a few pp neurology guys that are adjunct professors, but I realize that is completely different than being on a tenure track for professorship.

 

[Woatalk]

Another route a neurologist with years of private practice experience could take to join a university/academia is by way of a Clinician Educator--who offer there services by devoting a large percentage of thier time to education of housestaff, and medical students. I think some acedemic neurology programs are using and/or looking more into this aspect (used in Internal Medicine and other specialties for years).

Ideally, it allows researchers more time for research, since they would not have to teach.


It would be helpful and intersting to know how much dedicated Clinician Educators earn...

 

[HarveyCushing]

It would be helpful and intersting to know how much dedicated Clinician Educators earn...

I would be interested in that as well, but for some reason I don't see it being that much of the physicians salary. I am guessing most of their salary is from what they themselves bring in, but I'm sure the University might give a little reimbursement if anything at all. I wonder if the affiliation is more in name than anything else.

One thing that would steer me more towards this setup is that I would love to teach medical students and residents. That is one thing that draws me to academic medicine. However writing grants, successfully maintaining a funded lab, and the pressure of "publish or perish" make me shy away from wanting to go into pure academic medicine. This setup would be a nice mix.

 

[buckley]

What's an RO1?

Does my lack of knowlegde of the existence of such a term point strongly towards the fact that I best go the private practice track?
I love teaching--Clin Ed route is a pretty sweet deal. it may not be that big financially speaking, but if it satisfies you, well, it satisfies you...

 

[HarveyCushing]

What's an RO1?

It is basically the grants that NIH gives to principal investigators. From the NIH website, "The Research Project (R01) grant is an award made to support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing the investigator's specific interest and competencies, based on the mission of the NIH."

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/r01.htm

 

[buckley]

thanks