Combining English With Biology

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Narmerguy

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I've been interested in medicine for a long while and Biology has also always been something that I'm very passionate about. However, I really love English and literature as well and I'm torn about whether I should go into English instead. Although I love medicine and want to become a doctor, my dream job would be some job that combines real English (not grant-writing or reading/writing papers) with Biology. Does anything like this exist?
 
I know there's Medical journalism. You can interview patients, doctors, and other healthcare workers to publish articles in health journals or even television reporting/broadcasting...I've heard of a few medical schools that offer this track, but I can't remember off the top. I'm not completely sure if there's a medical school track though. I do know that such programs exist.
 
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That's pretty interesting. I'll look into that, thanks 🙂 It doesn't really have to be medicine and English though, I was actually looking more for straight biology and English.
 
Nothing will stop you from reading or writing if you have the time. Plenty of doctors write well and often, and I assume that that statement applies to their reading as well. Atul Gawande, for example, is a fantastic writer who frequently wrote pieces for the New Yorker (and other publications), on top of writing full-length texts.

What is your primary interest? If you dont want to practice medicine at all - if you want to focus on your literary interests - then you should probably spare yourself the agony of pursuing an MD.

Do you just want to be a practicing physician who still flexes his literary muscles? Maybe you should try one of the ROADs specialties, so you can practice and have "me time," to devote to these interests. That said, Dr. Gawande (who I mentioned above) is actually a general surgeon, and they aren't know for having hours to burn. (Disclaimer: I don't know whether he was otherwise employed while he wrote. It's quite possible, as surgeons are said to just work work work sleep work eat and work.)

What I'm trying to say is, you have options. If you don't plan on practicing medicine, maybe you shouldn't bother with an MD. If you want to be a practicing doctor, you'll be busy a lot of the time, but can pursue literary endeavors when you're off duty, as other physicians before you have done.
 
Nothing will stop you from reading or writing if you have the time. Plenty of doctors write well and often, and I assume that that statement applies to their reading as well. Atul Gawande, for example, is a fantastic writer who frequently wrote pieces for the New Yorker (and other publications), on top of writing full-length texts.

What is your primary interest? If you dont want to practice medicine at all - if you want to focus on your literary interests - then you should probably spare yourself the agony of pursuing an MD.

Do you just want to be a practicing physician who still flexes his literary muscles? Maybe you should try one of the ROADs specialties, so you can practice and have "me time," to devote to these interests. That said, Dr. Gawande (who I mentioned above) is actually a general surgeon, and they aren't know for having hours to burn. (Disclaimer: I don't know whether he was otherwise employed while he wrote. It's quite possible, as surgeons are said to just work work work sleep work eat and work.)

What I'm trying to say is, you have options. If you don't plan on practicing medicine, maybe you shouldn't bother with an MD. If you want to be a practicing doctor, you'll be busy a lot of the time, but can pursue literary endeavors when you're off duty, as other physicians before you have done.

Well, I'm actually a lot more interested in literary analysis/research than writing myself.

I also think you misunderstand me. If I were to pursue medicine I would do that with a pleasure. The only thing I could see diverting me from medicine is some other thing that combines English and biology together (doesn't really have to be medicine).

Thanks for all your advice. Even the textbook one I suppose...
 
I remember my anatomy teacher in HS telling me that there was a fairly big demand for people to write science articles for magazines and things like that. As in, to get the science information across to people in a way that is interesting and easy to understand. Not sure how much this helps/is what you're looking for but figured I'd give my .02 😀
 
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