If one wanted to be a medical school professor(basic science not clinical), would an Anatomy PhD be a good option. Some places have Anatomy PhD education tracks. Any thoughts on the current demand of this position? I read an article from 2005 on the growing demand, but that was only one source. I imagine the lifestyle would be considerably better than MD, although I am sure pay would be less. No debt would be nice though(as PhD programs tend to stipend you tuition) Thoughts...
Anatomy PhD programs
- Thread starter chrisski
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Generally, tenure track positions are absurdly competitive. I'd imagine a professorship at a medical school would be even more competitive. 150 programs in the states means at least 150 anatomy professors (they'll all be filled when you get out of grad school, but you can always play the waiting game if you like those terrible, terrible odds), but you should know the job description is gonna entail more research than actual teaching.
Hmmm. Lets say Anatomy Professor in general, not necessarily med school. With the consistent increase in health sciences graduate programs (doctors, nurses, PAs etc) don't you think the demand for Anatomy PhDs with pedagogical training will be relatively high. My intuition would say yes.
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Yeah, but then you have to ask how many of these anatomy teaching positions are actually being filled by people with degrees in straight anatomy. I have seen many, many anatomy teaches at my school who were just people from the profession they were teaching to (PT, PA, nursing) with a special interest/knowledge of anatomy, not people with actual anatomy degrees.
I might suggest finding some Anatomy PhD programs and asking them about the opportunities you might see with such a degree.
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Your intuition would be almost categorically wrong. There is a glut of PhDs in the market today and any tenure track position is going to be fiercely competitive. If you want to teach anatomy become a high school biology teacher, only get a PhD if you want to spend your life researching. If you manage to do some cool research, graduate from a top program, get some nice publications and maybe a quality post-doc position, then you start to get competitive for professorships, but don't look at this as an easier route because it is not.
Although it may feel cool to regurgitate the headlines without performing any research, you are wrong. This "glut" (as journalist so often call it) is not present in this case. There is undoubtedly a need. Check these articles. I can provide more if needed. I am just trying to guage the level of this need from those in the medical profession, if any are on here. Not loud mouthed pre-meds 🙂
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ase.96/pdf
http://www.anatomy.org/Membership/survey_academic_departments.htm
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ase.96/pdf
http://www.anatomy.org/Membership/survey_academic_departments.htm
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If you don't want the advice of "loud mouthed pre-meds" you probably shouldn't be posting on a pre-allopathic medicine forum. In any case, my advice is based on friends pursuing PhDs in related fields, not strictly on what I've heard from the media, but if you say that this case is special I won't argue because I'm not privy to current information on anatomists.
I would agree with what lisi said, regarding programs often hiring professors without a PhD. Nursing programs may prefer nurses with strong anatomy backgrounds to teach anatomy (anecdotally, I know this is true for some PT programs). I've also heard of graduate programs seeking people with a master's degree in anatomy rather than a PhD. Everywhere you look, in this economy PhDs are considered overqualified, programs would rather pay less to a master's student than worry about hiring someone with a terminal research degree.
Take my advice or leave it, but I don't appreciate being insulted when I'm only trying to help.
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As someone who finds the human body endlessly fascinating I have been seriously considering medical school. However, I have recently stumbled upon some Anatomy PhD programs with a pedagogical focus. Basically, you split time between studying anatomy and educational theory. You're research is not laboratory based, but rather based on anatomical education theory. The attached excerpt from a recent medical school professor's proposal to institute an Anatomy PhD program makes the demand for this field seem huge, however it is often hard to judge the validity of these things. Do all of you perceive Anatomy PhDs to be as in demand as this article makes it seem. I think this would be a wonderful path, and would allow one to gain knowledge of the human body, without experiencing all the pitfalls of the modern medical system (and avoid all the debt!) What do you think?
Excerpt:
Is there documentation of a need and demand for students in the Education Track?
In recent years, there have been several published reports and symposia devoted to the growing
shortage of anatomy instructors:
2002 survey of Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Neurobiology Chairpersons
(AACBNC) (http://www.anatomy.org/Membership/survey_academic_departments.htm).
Wanted: More anatomy instructors institutions explore ways to cope with shortages.
AAMC Reporter 13:6-7, 2003 (http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/march03/anatomy.htm).
Anatomy classes face gross shortage. Science 299:1309, 2003.
The importance of anatomy in health professions education and the shortage of qualified
educators. Academic Medicine 80:349-351, 2005.
2005 American Association of Anatomists symposium focused on shortage of qualified
anatomy instructors.
According to the AACBNC survey, more than 80% of anatomy-related department chairs
anticipate having great or moderate difficulty finding qualified gross anatomy teachers in
the next five years (95 schools reporting). A minority of these schools (37%) require graduate
students to take gross anatomy. Of the few students who do take gross anatomy, less than half
intend to teach it in during their careers. Given these factors, it is projected that 190 graduate
students who intend to teach gross anatomy will finish their training in the next few years.
However, the age distribution of the current faculty suggests that approximately 625 classically-
trained PhD anatomists will retire in the next decade, resulting in a major deficit of qualified
instructors. Further exacerbating this shortfall, the Association of American Medical Colleges is
recommending a 30% increase in medical class size by 2015. Several states are even planning
new medical schools. Thus, it appears likely that the demand for gross anatomy teachers will
far exceed the available supply. Although the problem is most acute for gross anatomy, similar
concerns apply to the anatomy teaching disciplines of embryology, histology, and neuroscience.
Excerpt:
Is there documentation of a need and demand for students in the Education Track?
In recent years, there have been several published reports and symposia devoted to the growing
shortage of anatomy instructors:
2002 survey of Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Neurobiology Chairpersons
(AACBNC) (http://www.anatomy.org/Membership/survey_academic_departments.htm).
Wanted: More anatomy instructors institutions explore ways to cope with shortages.
AAMC Reporter 13:6-7, 2003 (http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/march03/anatomy.htm).
Anatomy classes face gross shortage. Science 299:1309, 2003.
The importance of anatomy in health professions education and the shortage of qualified
educators. Academic Medicine 80:349-351, 2005.
2005 American Association of Anatomists symposium focused on shortage of qualified
anatomy instructors.
According to the AACBNC survey, more than 80% of anatomy-related department chairs
anticipate having great or moderate difficulty finding qualified gross anatomy teachers in
the next five years (95 schools reporting). A minority of these schools (37%) require graduate
students to take gross anatomy. Of the few students who do take gross anatomy, less than half
intend to teach it in during their careers. Given these factors, it is projected that 190 graduate
students who intend to teach gross anatomy will finish their training in the next few years.
However, the age distribution of the current faculty suggests that approximately 625 classically-
trained PhD anatomists will retire in the next decade, resulting in a major deficit of qualified
instructors. Further exacerbating this shortfall, the Association of American Medical Colleges is
recommending a 30% increase in medical class size by 2015. Several states are even planning
new medical schools. Thus, it appears likely that the demand for gross anatomy teachers will
far exceed the available supply. Although the problem is most acute for gross anatomy, similar
concerns apply to the anatomy teaching disciplines of embryology, histology, and neuroscience.
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How is a PhD "better" than an MD? Both are a doctorate level degree, albeit with different purposes and focuses, so it is comparing apples to oranges. There's a glutton of PhD's, but seems to be our country has a shortage of MD/DO's. To play devil's advocate as well, MD's tend to be rather successful in earning grant money in comparison to their PhD counterparts.
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This is absolutely stupid.
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Everything in this post is wrong in some way or another. In all honesty with the exception of clinical psychology, PhD programs aren't that competitive as a whole ( Not even talking about Online/unaccredited Argosy/Capella). However that being said.. if you want to actually teach and do research at a university you'll pretty much need to go do a PhD program at a top tier school ( Followed by a Post-Doc at a top tier university), of which will be comparable to medical school competitiveness as a whole.
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qft
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Err, a lot more. Try getting a tenure-track position at a university...300 applicants for a single spot, all with PhDs, and at least 20 of them with their own grant money bringing $$ to your department. It's brutal.
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Don't forget the law of descending prestige.
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No. Does anyone know about trading FOREX?
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