British MD re-rentering for MD PhD

[dupuytren]

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Hi all

I am a british medical graduate (from cambridge), I really want to do ophthalmology and go into research on the side in the future. i'm already a Dr here and I understand that it's difficult for an FMG to get into ophth..so was thinking about re-doing med school with MD PhD route - do most medical schools in USA accept people who are already medical graduates elsewhere? btw i have a green card and plan to return to the USA...

I'd love to hear some comments and feedback!

 

[RxnMan]

I don't think you'd need to re-enter MD school. I think you would need to have a compelling residency application, be willing to apply to a lot of places, and go wherever you are accepted. Getting a PhD may help with this - get connections, publications, etc - depending on where you do it. Also, MD/PhD programs (and there are a variety of these programs) are designed for, and recruit people who want to do academic medicine and research, which is different than your stated goal of wanting to practice opthomology in the states. Most schools would see you getting an MD as a waste of time and a valuable spot in class. Not trying to say your dream is impossible; just pointing out that you should explore other ways of getting there.

First, you may want to cruise the International forums, and see if they have any answers there (scroll down the forum page to find them). Use the search function, because your question may already have been answered. Also look at the Optho and MD/PhD forums. Optho and International are generally better suited to answer your questions, and MD/PhD will give you links to give you a better idea about how the programs are structured.