Choosing between research and medicine as a p/s

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teflontess15

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Hi all,

I recently joined the forums upon recommendation of a friend, and I must say SDN is an invaluable resource for us Pre-Meds due to the flood of misinformation out there. I was wondering if you guys might be able to provide some input on a problem I'm having in applying to med schools. I have been blessed (or cursed?) with great experiences in both research and medicine.

I am getting my undergraduate honors thesis in a nationally renowned HHMI genetics lab and will probably be able to get my results published in a journal (my PI's name carries a LOT of weight). I've grown to love research and I could definitely see myself working as a researcher.

However, I also am definitely interested in clinical medicine. I've done several different shadowing stints and am love the idea of the doctor-patient relationship. I have been regularly shadowing a pediatric surgeon at our local children's hospital (one of the top ten in the nation) and today she told me that I have great potential in clinical medicine. I love interacting with kids and would throughly enjoy working in peds. I definitely want to be a doctor that does clinic. The main appeal of medicine for me is patient interaction, being able to use my science knowledge to help better the health of patients.

Thus, herein lies my problem. Every time I leave the lab, I know I want to do quality research work. Every time I leave the hospital, I know I have to be a doctor that maintains significant patient contact. Logically, this would seem to point to a dual degree but the problem is I don't have an inclination for one field over the other and I know it would be extremely hard for me to do 50/50.

Am I wanting too much here? I want to be able to do quality research. But I also want to be an excellent physician, that is, one that is able to do clinic regularly and work with new techniques in medicine. Is this even possible? Should I go for the two in the beginning and see how it turns out?

It isn't the time or effort required that worries me the most, it's that I don't want to feel like my education for one or the other was wasted. Should I be happy to compromise or just pick one? I'm afraid of going MSTP and then backing out, I would feel guitly about taking someone else's spot and I generally hate quitting.

Sorry for the blocks of questions there. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

Best,
Teresa

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It sounds to me like you have the ideal mindset for an MSTP candidate. I have grappled with the same issue myself countless times. And you are right, 50/50 will likely not work becuase in both fields one is competing with people that are investing a 100% of their time. What I would suggest is this- obtain the best research AND clinical training you can get..that is, go to the best MSTP that will take you (contrary to what people tell you about US News, the top schools [research ranking for med schools] on US News are the ones that will give you the best training at both research and clinical medicine), go to the best residency and fellowship (choose on the basis of edge in clinical medicine) and go to the best postdoc lab you can get into in your field. Once you have obtained all that great training (and possibly earlier) you will be in a much better position to decide how you want to proportion the time you want to invest in both. You will probably make changes as you go through your junior faculty positions and probably be set (in your proportion) sometime after that.
The bottom line I am trying to get at is this- it may be counter productive to choose a career track without flexibility at this early stage. There is so much one does not know due to lack of exposure, lack of experience and lack of age (no offense). If one has serious inclination towards both research and clinical medicine, it seems a safe bet to obtain the best training in both fields and decide later as to proportion.
 
Good advice from arc. If you can handle the time commitment (roughly 4 extra years), and some can't which is ok, then it sounds like MSTP is the right track for you. It will offer the most flexibility in the long run as your interests change, focus, etc. It's sort of a gray area between putting off an important life decision and giving yourself more options. Personally, I've always said I'm going to strive to do both well until it is proven to me that I can't - in which case, a choice will have to be made. And don't feel guilty about taking someone else's spot (unless you're doing it mostly for financial gain) - many MSTP trainees such as myself are unsure exactly how they'll be spending their time in the future, but see the benefit of having both a solid clinical training and rigorous scientific education.
 
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I'll keep this short cause I told myself I was going to get off SDN a half hour ago. :). Thanks so much for the input and the feeback on my question. It really helped me a lot. I also talked to another MD/PhD and she essentially told me what I need to hear, which was I don't need a plan. I ended up applying to all MD/PhD programs instead of five. The decision basically came down to my sucking up my laziness and doing what I knew I really wanted to do. But I wouldn't have realized it without the wisdom shared.
 
teflontess15 said:
I'll keep this short cause I told myself I was going to get off SDN a half hour ago. :). Thanks so much for the input and the feeback on my question. It really helped me a lot. I also talked to another MD/PhD and she essentially told me what I need to hear, which was I don't need a plan. I ended up applying to all MD/PhD programs instead of five. The decision basically came down to my sucking up my laziness and doing what I knew I really wanted to do. But I wouldn't have realized it without the wisdom shared.

You certainly don't need to have decided what your future career will be. However, you should have some mental picture (i.e. a plan) about what kind of career you would like to have. It is important to start thinking about these issues now (as you have), as it will certainly affect many things about your life down the road.

Each of us will be pulled in many directions. It will be up to you to find the best balance that suits you. 50/50 clinical medicine/basic research is unrealistic--most good examples that I have seen split it 80/20 in favor of basic disease-oriented research. Others choose to be almost purely a clinician. The bottom line is that the MD/PhD training gives you unparelleled flexibility in career choices spanning the realm of medicine and science.

Good luck!
 
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