advice needed please.....

[baddreams55]

I am an MS1 in a US medical school and want, really much, to do derm. So far, I plan to complete med school in 4 years and not, take an extra/5th "research" year, because I did breast cancer research with a great PI the summer before 1st year and will continue is this summer between 1st and 2nd year. There is a really good chance that I will be publishing with this PI as 3rd author on 1 or 2, maybe after this summer possible 3 papers. My questions:

1) in regards to derm applicants, is cancer research regarded as highly as general derm research? Would it be more beneficial for me to change horses and try to do derm research instead next summer?

2) again, for the aspiring dermie, is a summer better spent doing research or doing community volunteer projects/international health volunteer things?

3) What about during the years (1st & 2nd), is working my butt off for a couple more honors worth sacrificing more of the student leadership deal type things (while passing, but not honoring basic sciences?)

Sorry for all these questions, I know the best dermie would do it all, but I am only human and so must choose. Thanks

baddreams55

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[ny skindoc]

1) in regards to derm applicants, is cancer research regarded as highly as general derm research? Would it be more beneficial for me to change horses and try to do derm research instead next summer?

2) again, for the aspiring dermie, is a summer better spent doing research or doing community volunteer projects/international health volunteer things?

3) What about during the years (1st & 2nd), is working my butt off for a couple more honors worth sacrificing more of the student leadership deal type things (while passing, but not honoring basic sciences?)

Sorry for all these questions, I know the best dermie would do it all, but I am only human and so must choose. Thanks

baddreams55

Published cancer research(not derm related) will help you for derm application I am sure.
I would spend summers adding to your resecrch credentials by getting started in a dermatology related project,it will help make you contacts which is very important.I dont think student leadership or community service activities will offset mediocre grades in med school.If you want to do this type of thing then try to do a project with a derm dept such as community skin cancer screening or the like as you need to show that you have a focused interest in dermatology.

 

[PathOne]

I also agree that cancer research will definitely help you. Remember, that malignant melanoma has one of the biggest increases in prevalence around... So I would certainly stick with a project that's up and running, and if choosing your time between doing research and volunteering, I'd go with research.
As regards honors vs. student leadership, I'd also want to do the honors. Remember, that not only is derm one of the most competitive residencies around - it's also traditionally highly focused on academics, grades/steps and research, as opposed to the "softer" extracurriculars.
Best of luck!

 

[JOEYSOBANK]

Just to emphasize what nyskindoc and path1 have said, the research, PUBLISHED/RESPECTABLE research more importantly, will help you in the process.
Undoubtedly, derm research is the typical route most applicants take. However, if the research is worthwhile, you will probably just need to address during your interviews why you followed that interest.
During all 4 years you should be making contacts with your department and derm faculty at other departments. This will make your life easier in the end. By finding influential mentors that have connections at other programs you essentiall open doors at other institutions without effectively doing away rotations there.
This, as you will see in the coming years, is a tremendous advantage (most schools allow only 2 or 3 away rotations in your 4th year, unfortunately).

 

[PathOne]

Oh, yes. Forgot to mention that. EVERYBODY that has a fighting chance to get a derm residency has good steps, grades etc.
So references from respected dermatologists can really set your application apart and make the difference. It's a fairly small community, so chances are that people know each other, and respect the opinion of a colleague. So good LoR's, especially from Heavy Hitters, can definitely help a lot!
I have a three-line reference from one of the Gods, and I expect that I'll be able to use that for the rest of my working life. (even considered framing it on the wall) *LOL*

 

[baddreams55]

thanks for the awesome advice y'all. I am thinking maybe, if I can do both derm and the breast cancer research, I will. I hate to leave my current PI now, cuz basically he is really nice and not a meanie that will leave me out of publications or trivialize my contributions. I heard from an ortho resident who is helping out upcoming med students interested in ortho, that doing a few hours of ortho research a week is enough for each year. Is it the same way with derm? a few more specific questions:

1. What sort of research is derm research? is it bench research, where tons of hours are spent over western blots and PCR? or is it more like a number crunching, meta analysis, stats-based research (where it can be done in fewer hours)? or is it just an interesting case writeup.

2. who are the gods of derm? Who specifically? and how does one get to know them, (presumably, all the eager dermies are knocking at their doors, right?).

3. My school is really, really, really primary care focused. Will letting people (advisors, teachers specifically) know about my laser-like focus on derm make them look badly towards me? A lot of people here at my school seem to look down on the people who choose so called "lifestyle fields".

baddreams55

 

[PathOne]

1. Molecular research is obviously picking up fast, but a lot of it is epidemiology, clinical trials, drug efficacy studies etc. I.e. generally more clinically related than basic science stuff. Singel biggest topic would be melanoma research (cancer - lots of money and interest).
The easiest are obviously case reports - but they still show that you can find and correlate relevant information, think about examination and treatment techniques, differentials etc, so I feel that case reports are a good way to start out, and can also give you one of those coveted first authorships.
As previous poster wrote, remember that the operative word is PUBLISHED research, i.e. posters, abstracts and peer-reviewed articles.

2. Gods are generally the ones who has published all the textbooks and/or a zillion papers (look at your campus bookstore/medline). However, note that most of the Gods are generally 1) fairly old, so may not be as active anymore. 2) sometimes rarely at their department, because they zip the world giving lectures, so you may transfer to a God department, only to find out that the head honcho hardly is there while you're there, and thus can't give a LoR.
Generally speaking, if you go to somebody who's a board member/officer of the American Academy of Dermatology you're safe. They're all pretty well respected docs.

3. I guess it's a question of framing your interest in derm. If you say "I want to be a derm because it's competitive, because I want to make a million bucks a year and because I want to do cosmetic work" it might not be popular. But if you stress that you'd want to help fighting melanomas, help patients with psoreasis etc. I can't really see that it should be a big problem.