Career Responsibilities of Oncologists?

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hopeful__md

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So I'm a bit new to SDN and I know I have a long road ahead of me until medical school but I was wondering what opportunities oncologists are presented with. Namely, I was interested in knowing whether oncologists can participate in basic science research (cancer biology) or whether their jobs are designated strictly to clinical care. Can someone who is interested in building a career in both patient care and cancer research do so with just an MD/DO or do you also need a PhD?

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So I'm a bit new to SDN and I know I have a long road ahead of me until medical school but I was wondering what opportunities oncologists are presented with. Namely, I was interested in knowing whether oncologists can participate in basic science research (cancer biology) or whether their jobs are designated strictly to clinical care. Can someone who is interested in building a career in both patient care and cancer research do so with just an MD/DO or do you also need a PhD?

1. You can tailor your practice to what you want. You can work in academic, private practice, hybrid, etc. But generally you won't get paid as much if you are doing primarily cancer research (basic science, lab) vs. if you are seeing tons of patients. If you really care about ending up in academia to do cancer research, then people tend to care more about prestige (e.g. Dana Farber, MSK, MDA) than if you want to work in private practice where no one cares as long as you're a good hematologist-oncologist.

2. You don't need a PhD to do cancer research. Some people obviously do have an MD/PhD but having "only" an MD is perfectly fine to do cancer research.
 
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If you’re interested in doing basic science research (and I mean doing a lot of it), then a structured MD/PhD is certainly one (but not the only) way to get good training.

With an MD only you can get the proper training but it will require some protected research time during fellowship (and if you’re goals are to run a lab, you’d realistically need to add a year(s) in many cases).

To do well as a physician scientist one needs a lot of things to align but mainly the person has to be able to bring in enough money to offset their high clinical income potential and get some time to build up their research toolbox and expertise.

For now focus on doing well in your UG, getting into a good med school and staying focused. It’s a long and hard road. Good luck.
 
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I have a PhD...I have a fully clinical (and administrative) hem/onc practice.

The director of our cancer institute has "just" an MD. He also runs a 30+ researcher lab, is a Hughes fellow, has won the Lasker and Sjoberg prize, and is a name you know if you know famous oncologists. He also occasionally sees VIP patients.
 
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If you’re interested in doing basic science research (and I mean doing a lot of it), then a structured MD/PhD is certainly one (but not the only) way to get good training.

With an MD only you can get the proper training but it will require some protected research time during fellowship (and if you’re goals are to run a lab, you’d realistically need to add a year(s) in many cases).

To do well as a physician scientist one needs a lot of things to align but mainly the person has to be able to bring in enough money to offset their high clinical income potential and get some time to build up their research toolbox and expertise.

For now focus on doing well in your UG, getting into a good med school and staying focused. It’s a long and hard road. Good luck.


Oh no, I wish that MD/PhD was still a possibility but sadly I will never really be able to qualify with my stats. I am set to begin my post bacc (hopefully this fall) so right now transcript repair is my main focus. However, I know that eventually I will have to start looking into MD/DO programs that reward reinvention to begin applying once my stats are satisfactory. I've worked the last 2 years as a research assistant so, along with everything related to clinical care, I also find research really interesting. I was more curious about what specialties are more receptive to research and how a physician could feasibly be part of a project. Overall, I love medicine, I love learning the science that's needed to understand medicine, and more broadly I love asking questions and answering them in a lab setting. These are things I was very indifferent about in undergrad but have been looking to demonstrate since graduating.


I have a PhD...I have a fully clinical (and administrative) hem/onc practice.

The director of our cancer institute has "just" an MD. He also runs a 30+ researcher lab, is a Hughes fellow, has won the Lasker and Sjoberg prize, and is a name you know if you know famous oncologists. He also occasionally sees VIP patients.


Sorry, I really didn't intend to be condescending. I wasn't sure whether it was common for physicians to participate in research. I apologize about that if I made it seem that way.
 
, I really didn't intend to be condescending. I wasn't sure whether it was common for physicians to participate in research. I apologize about that if I made it seem that way.
I didn't take it as condescending. Just pointing out that you can be a very successful basic scientist without a PhD. And you can be a very good clinical oncologist with a PhD.
 
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I didn't take it as condescending. Just pointing out that you can be a very successful basic scientist without a PhD. And you can be a very good clinical oncologist with a PhD.
Awesome! Just out of curiosity are some of the principles in molecular biology (related to gene therapy, cancer biology, genomics, gene regulation, etc.) that you learn in undergrad retaught in med school in greater detail or would this only follow a grad school curriculum? In other words, do oncologists (MD/DO) get the opportunity to learn the detailed science behind cancer or are they mostly concerned with treatments? Two of the courses I'm looking forward to the most in my postbacc are molec biology and biochemistry and I would love to continue to learn more beyond an undergrad level.
 
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