Why are Medical Geneticist not paid like surgeons?

[Lawgiver]

Genetics is my favourites subject, but I don't like the idea of 120K a year. So why are these fine folks not paid more? Will it ever change?

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[JP2740]

Trolls out in full force today

 

[BurghStudent]

You should spend a day in the OR

 

[Lawgiver]

wow, some of you have obviously been traumatized by too many troll posts. I promise this isn't one of them. Id like to know. I was just using surgeons as an afterthought, replace it with any other high paying specialty if you wish....or none at all.

 

[DrBowtie]

wow, some of you have obviously been traumatized by too many troll posts. I promise this isn't one of them. Id like to know. I was just using surgeons as an afterthought, replace it with any other high paying specialty if you wish....or none at all.

Almost exclusively academic. No procedures. Largely pediatric population meaning lots of Medicaid.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Almost exclusively academic. No procedures. Largely pediatric population meaning lots of Medicaid.

Less liability.

Less malpractice.

Shorter training time.

Less demand (although we could use some more here).

Lots of reasons.

But you know many surgeons are doing genetic counseling/testing as part of their practice as more testing options and treatments for inherited mutations becomes available. Its not like you have to choose one or the other.

Moving to Pre-Allo.

 

[ridethecliche]

Risk.

 

[ciruji]

Is there a trolling gene?

 

[BurghStudent]

Is there a trolling gene?

It's X-linked recessive. Translation: 30 year old man. Basement. Mountain Dew.

 

[deleted577188]

Is it a full moon out?

 

[mimelim]

Genetics is my favourites subject, but I don't like the idea of 120K a year. So why are these fine folks not paid more? Will it ever change?

I'll bite because this will be quick.

Do you know what a medical geneticist is?
Do you know what a surgeon is?

I'd be willing to bet a pretty penny that you don't know what either of them do, how they are paid or how they got where they are.

 

[Narmerguy]

Genetics is my favourites subject, but I don't like the idea of 120K a year. So why are these fine folks not paid more? Will it ever change?

Can't say if it will change or not, but it is worth considering if the rapidly decreasing cost of genome sequencing (coupled with our rapidly increasing ability to quantitatively analyze full genomes) will change the prospects for Medical Geneticists.

 

[The Buff OP]

You should spend a day in the OR

I would say one case. lmao!

 

[The Buff OP]

I'll bite because this will be quick.

Do you know what a medical geneticist is?
Do you know what a surgeon is?

I'd be willing to bet a pretty penny that you don't know what either of them do, how they are paid or how they got where they are.

That's cold, man.

 

[medic86]

Can't say if it will change or not, but it is worth considering if the rapidly decreasing cost of genome sequencing (coupled with our rapidly increasing ability to quantitatively analyze full genomes) will change the prospects for Medical Geneticists.

The next new thing won't even require a restriction digest - just a straight-up DNA extraction... and it's going to be fast.

It's going to change everything.

 

[NickNaylor]

The next new thing won't even require a restriction digest - just a straight-up DNA extraction... and it's going to be fast.

It's going to change everything.

Be able to obtain DNA and actually interpreting that data to make any useful conclusions are two entirely separate things. I agree that genetics has a bright future, but the bottleneck is our knowledge of genetics, not the processes required to obtain DNA. Sequencing is already trivially cheap. This is why 23andme was able to screen for a variety of genetic abnormalities in a way that was affordable to a huge number of people. The reason it isn't used more frequently is because it is unclear how useful that information is with our current knowledge base. Having someone's full genome really isn't going to help you all that much in a clinical setting.

 

[medic86]

Be able to obtain DNA and actually interpreting that data to make any useful conclusions are two entirely separate things. I agree that genetics has a bright future, but the bottleneck is our knowledge of genetics, not the processes required to obtain DNA. Sequencing is already trivially cheap. This is why 23andme was able to screen for a variety of genetic abnormalities in a way that was affordable to a huge number of people. The reason it isn't used more frequently is because it is unclear how useful that information is with our current knowledge base. Having someone's full genome really isn't going to help you all that much in a clinical setting.

Very true. I agree that it's much more complicated than that. Teasing out the way all of the epigenetic mechanisms work is going to be a mountain of a task.

For the equipment, I'm just speaking from a researching perspective. My school is tiny and has a next-generation sequencer, which is a very expensive piece of equipment for my school. Even initializing it is costly, which is why we need to have enough prepared and good product ready to run the damn thing for the next few days. Being able to do the same thing, but much faster, and (hopefully) cheaper will cut out sequencers like this and make life a lot easier.

 

[cyclopes93]

Get to sit down more...................all day actually.