How much do internists make in academia, what kind of schedule do they have, and what does it take to get a faculty position?
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academia salary
- Thread starter drboris
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Junior faculty medicine positions start at anywhere from 60,000-150,000 depending on how much clinical work you do. Remember that in medicine, no one will pay you for nothing, you always must generate a larger income then your employer pays you. This is particularly true for academics, where part of your salary is taken out to pay for the salary of the administration/dean/teaching/ and research costs. It's really easy to get a job as a hospitalist for an academic institution these days, since they pay less then private practice and with the new RRC requirements, a lot are looking for more of them to recruit to cover larger "non-teaching" services. Schedules are as variable as they are in private practice. Some people choose to work part time, some people work all the time. The more hours you work, the more you are likely to get paid.
The most straightforward rouote to academia (at least in General Internal Medicine) is to do a Gen Med fellowship. You will need to have an interest/angle in some aspect to concentrate your research on (things like medical care of the underserved/homeless population, domestic violence, mathematical modeling to predict disease outcomes based on signs/symptoms/proposed tests, STD's testing/prevention, etc).
The point is that you will need some research interest to turn into a grant proposal to get the money that will be paying your salary. Most academic positions start you at a certain salary (I think roughly $110 depending on where you go and what deal you get) BUT the University will be willing to give you hard money for a finite period of time (a year or two at most). So your first year you'll get $60k in hard money and have to see enough patients to cover the other $50k. In the meantime you need anticipate how you will be earning your keep by getting grant money to pay your salary. If your hard money runs out, you will need to be seeing enough patients to pay your salary or have a grant to pay yourself (or some combo). If you get a $500k grant, you're set for the time being-- you could cut your patient load way back and take most of your salary from the grant for the duration of the grant and keep doing your research and publishing (which begets more research and more grants and publications-- you see where this is going). If you don't, you don't get paid and you'll be let go if you keep that up. Doing the fellowship without garnering a strong research interest will get you nowhere. It's still worth a shot if you aren't quite sure if you're a research person (just be ready to accept that you've reached a dead end in academics if you don't have a promising research angle by the end).
I couldn't imagine living with the instability of the academic's life (always looking toward the next grant to make sure you get paid). There hasn't been as much grant money out there lately due to the bad economy so it's been particularly bad for a lot of folks (I know several who needed to double their office hours to maintain their salaries). Some people love it. To each their own.
The point is that you will need some research interest to turn into a grant proposal to get the money that will be paying your salary. Most academic positions start you at a certain salary (I think roughly $110 depending on where you go and what deal you get) BUT the University will be willing to give you hard money for a finite period of time (a year or two at most). So your first year you'll get $60k in hard money and have to see enough patients to cover the other $50k. In the meantime you need anticipate how you will be earning your keep by getting grant money to pay your salary. If your hard money runs out, you will need to be seeing enough patients to pay your salary or have a grant to pay yourself (or some combo). If you get a $500k grant, you're set for the time being-- you could cut your patient load way back and take most of your salary from the grant for the duration of the grant and keep doing your research and publishing (which begets more research and more grants and publications-- you see where this is going). If you don't, you don't get paid and you'll be let go if you keep that up. Doing the fellowship without garnering a strong research interest will get you nowhere. It's still worth a shot if you aren't quite sure if you're a research person (just be ready to accept that you've reached a dead end in academics if you don't have a promising research angle by the end).
I couldn't imagine living with the instability of the academic's life (always looking toward the next grant to make sure you get paid). There hasn't been as much grant money out there lately due to the bad economy so it's been particularly bad for a lot of folks (I know several who needed to double their office hours to maintain their salaries). Some people love it. To each their own.
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