D.O. teaching at allopathic school?

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83462

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Has anyone at an allopathic school had an osteopathic professor? What did they teach?
I believe the academic world is still quite segregated in this regard.
Just curious.
 
Yes! In almost every clerkship, I had at least one DO attending.

I don't know what you mean by segregation in the academic world. (1) Do you mean teaching of osteopathic principles in allopathic school? Or, (2) do you mean DO physicians working in allopathic institutions?

(1) I don't think any allopathic medical school activity offers osteopathic principles to its medical students

(2) Once you complete residency and fellowship, I don't think anyone in academics care about the letters behind your name (no matter how much Hasan MinHaz or regular folks claim). The former chair of pathology and the current CEO of my allopathic med school is a DO. If you have research productivity and the right connections, you can still climb up the admin or promotion ladder.
 
AzBasRad said:
(2) Once you complete residency and fellowship, I don't think anyone in academics care about the letters behind your name (no matter how much Hasan MinHaz or regular folks claim). The former chair of pathology and the current CEO of my allopathic med school is a DO. If you have research productivity and the right connections, you can still climb up the admin or promotion ladder.
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Your second point isn’t entirely correct. In private practice no one will care about about the letters after your name. In academics it will matter more, especially at “top” programs. Not saying DO’s can’t work there way up in academics, but being an MD is an advantage over being a DO
 
AzBasRad said:
Yes! In almost every clerkship, I had at least one DO attending.

I don't know what you mean by segregation in the academic world. (1) Do you mean teaching of osteopathic principles in allopathic school? Or, (2) do you mean DO physicians working in allopathic institutions?

(1) I don't think any allopathic medical school activity offers osteopathic principles to its medical students

(2) Once you complete residency and fellowship, I don't think anyone in academics care about the letters behind your name (no matter how much Hasan MinHaz or regular folks claim). The former chair of pathology and the current CEO of my allopathic med school is a DO. If you have research productivity and the right connections, you can still climb up the admin or promotion ladder.
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Thank you. I am referring to teaching medicine etc. rather than osteopathic principles. I went the DO route and am board certified by the ABIM (Allopathic residency) but am concerned that if I wanted to get into teaching medical school it may limit my opportunities. At this point in my career its just initials after my name. Thank you!
 
You’re only limit is the place where you are employed. If you work in an academic department you can teach students in clerkship or even classes to years 1 and 2. Several DOs are clerkship directors. If you happen to get a job at MGH and want to teach I doubt anyone will prevent you from doing that. In my own department some of the best teachers/surgeons are DOs. I am at a upper mid-tier MD school.
 
Dr G Oogle said:
You’re only limit is the place where you are employed. If you work in an academic department you can teach students in clerkship or even classes to years 1 and 2. Several DOs are clerkship directors. If you happen to get a job at MGH and want to teach I doubt anyone will prevent you from doing that. In my own department some of the best teachers/surgeons are DOs. I am at a upper mid-tier MD school.
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Thank you!
 
83462 said:
Has anyone at an allopathic school had an osteopathic professor? What did they teach?
I believe the academic world is still quite segregated in this regard.
Just curious.
Click to expand...
Yes this is common even in top schools. They make great clinical educators, which i believe are absolutely valuable
 
I'm at a run-of-the-mill Allopathic school

Some of my absolute favorite professors are DOs. IIRC one taught us a lot of the radiology things.
For many of the body systems there are still old-guard MD profs with PhDs who have mountains of research in that field... I feel like that may skew the demographics toward MDs for many topics, but especially in clinical scenarios/labs/etc I've had lots of DOs.
 
TragicalDrFaust said:
Gonna pile on here. I’m at a DO school and we have a PA lecturer. Is that normal?
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TragicalDrFaust said:
We also have an anatomy lecturer who’s a chiropractor, which seems odd to me.
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1. Nope. Not normal. Medical students should not have more education than their lecturers.

2. NOPE. What in the actual ****. That has to be a COCA violation and needs to be reported.

@Goro Have you heard of this?!
 
TragicalDrFaust said:
Gonna pile on here. I’m at a DO school and we have a PA lecturer. Is that normal?
Click to expand...
TragicalDrFaust said:
We also have an anatomy lecturer who’s a chiropractor, which seems odd to me.
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Could see a mid level giving a talk on diabetes education or how to do certain procedures. Sure. But actual medical management? No. They don’t think like us.

I’ve actually heard chiropractic school has a much more rigorous anatomy curriculum than Med school from the few who’ve done both. Especially in msk. Might not be too crazy if they’re purely filling an anatomist role.
 
Ganon said:
1. Nope. Not normal. Medical students should not have more education than their lecturers.

2. NOPE. What in the actual ****. That has to be a COCA violation and needs to be reported.

@Goro Have you heard of this?!
Click to expand...
A chiro teaching anatomy is fine.

As to the PA faculty member, it's going to depend upon what the subject matter is.

I was on faculty at an MD school and a lab assistant with an MS became one of the anatomy instructors.
 
TragicalDrFaust said:
Gonna pile on here. I’m at a DO school and we have a PA lecturer. Is that normal?
Click to expand...

TragicalDrFaust said:
We also have an anatomy lecturer who’s a chiropractor, which seems odd to me.
Click to expand...
Yikes. There's no problem at all having a DO lecture at an MD school as they are equivalent degrees. Also don't have a problem with occasionally being precepted by a midlevel (like for a day or two, shouldn't be constant). But they absolutely should not be lecturing, nor should a chiropractor have anything to do with medical education.
 
Ganon said:
1. Nope. Not normal. Medical students should not have more education than their lecturers.

2. NOPE. What in the actual ****. That has to be a COCA violation and needs to be reported.

@Goro Have you heard of this?!
Click to expand...
if they're talking about Nouro University Tevada, they technically have masters in anatomy or some kind of medical teaching masters I think. The cadaver lab's curriculum was written by a PhD and has MD/DOs/PhDs who assist during the lab for teaching. Does anyone really need a doctorate to make slides from Netter's and radiopaedia?
 
I was on the faculty at a major university. I taught med students ,residents and fellows in my specialty. Both clinical and didactic. I also gave grand rounds, and served as Co course director for an international symposium we hosted. At the time, I was only the 2nd DO to be on staff at the university hospital. Much more commonplace now
 
SmokinJay6 said:
I respectfully disagree with the bolded. At no point whatsoever should this occur. This type of baseline acceptance and thinking is the foundation to the total pile of crap we have now, with midlevels in absurd numbers and in some cases replacing physicians— all so that admin can save that sweet sweet $$$
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Yeah this really has nothing to do with the OP's original question so I'll refrain from repeating what I've said in other threads, but anyone wishing to hear my thoughts on the matter should be able to easily search for those posts. But let's avoid having yet another thread get consumed by the "midlevel encroachment discussion" black hole 🙂
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Lol wut
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Yeah, this is categorically wild and I’m shocked that a medical school faculty member would be okay with it.

Chiropractic Anatomy involves meridians and reflexology that has no basis in reality. It is pseudoscience and any medical school that endorses pseudoscience should be avoided in my humble MS4 opinion.

I would think that a DO school specifically would be wanting to *distance* themselves from quack medicine as a measure to further acceptance into the medical community. I believe MDs are = DOs, but I do demand that the training have parity for that opinion to carry forward, and that includes condemnation of harmful elements of complimentary and alternative medicine.

Just my opinion.
 
Ganon said:
Yeah, this is categorically wild and I’m shocked that a medical school faculty member would be okay with it.

Chiropractic Anatomy involves meridians and reflexology that has no basis in reality. It is pseudoscience and any medical school that endorses pseudoscience should be avoided in my humble MS4 opinion.

I would think that a DO school specifically would be wanting to *distance* themselves from quack medicine as a measure to further acceptance into the medical community. I believe MDs are = DOs, but I do demand that the training have parity for that opinion to carry forward, and that includes condemnation of harmful elements of complimentary and alternative medicine.

Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Having a chiro teach anything at a medical school is embarrassing.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Agreed. Having a chiro teach anything at a medical school is embarrassing.
Click to expand...
3el5rdcordm01.jpg


Chiro Krieger showing up to teach anatomy. And yes, I wish I could have more easily found the video clip of this.

Also, for any other Archer fans out there: an ER doc I used to work with was actually Adam Reed's physical model for Krieger.
 
83462 said:
I believe the academic world is still quite segregated in this regard.
Click to expand...
If you're a DO, I think you'll notice the letters a lot more, but the reality is that there are many layers of separation. Basically DO/low-tier MD vs. low mid-tier MD vs. "solid" but non-elite MD vs. Top 20. Personally I think the top 20 vs. everyone else is where the largest chasm lies. I'd sooner bet on a mid-tier school having equal MD/DO representation on the faculty than I would bet on a place like MGH/JHH/BWH picking anyone with even an upper mid-tier MD for Chief of Medicine, even if they trained at top places and published hundreds of papers afterward. Even Chief of Sections/Divisions at the Ivory Tower places are vast majority top, top-tier MD with gold-plated credentials.
Dr G Oogle said:
You’re only limit is the place where you are employed. If you work in an academic department you can teach students in clerkship or even classes to years 1 and 2. Several DOs are clerkship directors. If you happen to get a job at MGH and want to teach I doubt anyone will prevent you from doing that. In my own department some of the best teachers/surgeons are DOs. I am at a upper mid-tier MD school.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure exactly what @83462 is asking, but there's a huge difference between "teaching" and having a tenure-track professorship. Non-titled MDs at medical schools are employees of the hospital that are often recruited for help on clerkships. Then there are a slew of "Instructor" or "Adjunct" positions that have some ties to the medical school and sometimes give lectures. Finally there are the tenure track faculty that have significantly more teaching/research responsibility and a lot more upward mobility within the medical school system. All of them teach in some capacity, but only the tenure-track faculty are legitimately vying for higher and higher promotions and more influence within the med school. The non-tenure track faculty are often paid more, because they spend more time seeing patients, but the DOs teaching at a mid-tier MD school probably aren't in positions that will lead to being Chief of Medicine or getting absorbed into the upper levels of hospital leadership.
DrAmazingishere said:
its funny really, because medical school has such a limited impact on how good of a doctor you become. Its really residency that the real training starts. Clinical rotations give you a sort of primer, but residency is when you really develop skills, learn, assimilate, etc.
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It really is crazy. The med school admissions process is a total crapshoot, yet the school you go to can completely carry your residency application or sink it entirely. Then, even 20-30 years later, big academic or hospital appointments like Chief of [Blank] often come down to meaningless credentials like where you got your medical degree. It just looks nice to have someone at the helm without a single "ding" on the resume, just top institutions up and down.
 
Goro said:
It's all about knowing the bones. The chiro won't be the only guy /gal teaching either.
Click to expand...
Anyone whose anatomy education included pseudoscience like meridians and subluxations has no business teaching at a medical school.
 
ChordaEpiphany said:
If you're a DO, I think you'll notice the letters a lot more, but the reality is that there are many layers of separation. Basically DO/low-tier MD vs. low mid-tier MD vs. "solid" but non-elite MD vs. Top 20. Personally I think the top 20 vs. everyone else is where the largest chasm lies. I'd sooner bet on a mid-tier school having equal MD/DO representation on the faculty than I would bet on a place like MGH/JHH/BWH picking anyone with even an upper mid-tier MD for Chief of Medicine, even if they trained at top places and published hundreds of papers afterward. Even Chief of Sections/Divisions at the Ivory Tower places are vast majority top, top-tier MD with gold-plated credentials.

I'm not sure exactly what @83462 is asking, but there's a huge difference between "teaching" and having a tenure-track professorship. Non-titled MDs at medical schools are employees of the hospital that are often recruited for help on clerkships. Then there are a slew of "Instructor" or "Adjunct" positions that have some ties to the medical school and sometimes give lectures. Finally there are the tenure track faculty that have significantly more teaching/research responsibility and a lot more upward mobility within the medical school system. All of them teach in some capacity, but only the tenure-track faculty are legitimately vying for higher and higher promotions and more influence within the med school. The non-tenure track faculty are often paid more, because they spend more time seeing patients, but the DOs teaching at a mid-tier MD school probably aren't in positions that will lead to being Chief of Medicine or getting absorbed into the upper levels of hospital leadership.

It really is crazy. The med school admissions process is a total crapshoot, yet the school you go to can completely carry your residency application or sink it entirely. Then, even 20-30 years later, big academic or hospital appointments like Chief of [Blank] often come down to meaningless credentials like where you got your medical degree. It just looks nice to have someone at the helm without a single "ding" on the resume, just top institutions up and down.
Click to expand...
I don't necessarily disagree with what you have been saying. University faculty are on a promotion track and research is required for advancement. Some prefer clinical research, some prefer bench research. Agreed that many administrators have a pedigree from upper tier institutions. But what is the motivation to be Chief of Anything? Usually The Chief has been riding a desk for 10 or 20 yrs and probably not the person to be taking care of your family. We need administrators to attend meeting and help plot the course of the medical school. It seems like a huge wast of time, money and talent to go through the rigid training process in medicine to sit at a desk, deal with dept drama, and attend meetings all day. This would be " Some Fresh He!! for me. But to each their own.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Agreed. Having a chiro teach anything at a medical school is embarrassing.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree, but the reality isn't so simple. There aren't enough card-carrying anatomists to go around (not by a long shot), and their numbers continue to dwindle each year. Anatomy graduate programs still exist, but the don't attract enough students to meet demand. Hence, medical schools all across the country have had to rely on people in other fields (like physical therapists and anthropologists) to close the gap. Using physicians to teach anatomy is possible, but it's hella expensive and you end up relying on part-time faculty of variable quality.

With a PhD in anatomy you can always find an academic job that pays decently. Aside from the wondrous joys of teaching medical students, I'm not sure why more people don't do it.
 
ChordaEpiphany said:
If you're a DO, I think you'll notice the letters a lot more, but the reality is that there are many layers of separation. Basically DO/low-tier MD vs. low mid-tier MD vs. "solid" but non-elite MD vs. Top 20. Personally I think the top 20 vs. everyone else is where the largest chasm lies. I'd sooner bet on a mid-tier school having equal MD/DO representation on the faculty than I would bet on a place like MGH/JHH/BWH picking anyone with even an upper mid-tier MD for Chief of Medicine, even if they trained at top places and published hundreds of papers afterward. Even Chief of Sections/Divisions at the Ivory Tower places are vast majority top, top-tier MD with gold-plated credentials.
Click to expand...
There are still DOs in top tier places, even as chairs in places like MGH

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Med Ed said:
I don't disagree, but the reality isn't so simple. There aren't enough card-carrying anatomists to go around (not by a long shot), and their numbers continue to dwindle each year. Anatomy graduate programs still exist, but the don't attract enough students to meet demand. Hence, medical schools all across the country have had to rely on people in other fields (like physical therapists and anthropologists) to close the gap. Using physicians to teach anatomy is possible, but it's hella expensive and you end up relying on part-time faculty of variable quality.

With a PhD in anatomy you can always find an academic job that pays decently. Aside from the wondrous joys of teaching medical students, I'm not sure why more people don't do it.
Click to expand...
Maybe that’s a void unmatched doctors could fill.
 
Med Ed said:
I don't disagree, but the reality isn't so simple. There aren't enough card-carrying anatomists to go around (not by a long shot), and their numbers continue to dwindle each year. Anatomy graduate programs still exist, but the don't attract enough students to meet demand. Hence, medical schools all across the country have had to rely on people in other fields (like physical therapists and anthropologists) to close the gap. Using physicians to teach anatomy is possible, but it's hella expensive and you end up relying on part-time faculty of variable quality.

With a PhD in anatomy you can always find an academic job that pays decently. Aside from the wondrous joys of teaching medical students, I'm not sure why more people don't do it.
Click to expand...
At my school I think we have like one anatomist and a surgeon on the anatomy staff. Then we have part time physicians and fourth year TAs who help round it out. No chiros necessary.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
At my school I think we have like one anatomist and a surgeon on the anatomy staff. Then we have part time physicians and fourth year TAs who help round it out. No chiros necessary.
Click to expand...
That's your school. Not every institution can find even a single "real" anatomist.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
That’s wild. There is that much of shortage?
Click to expand...
Yes. Anatomy is the #1 never-ending headache in terms of finding qualified teaching faculty. The running joke is that the PhD anatomists are all finishing their careers as cadavers.
 
Lawpy said:
There are still DOs in top tier places, even as chairs in places like MGH

Find a Mass General Doctor or Specialist

Find a doctor at Mass General. Search our online physician directory by specialty, location, gender and languages spoken, and find contact information.
www.massgeneral.org www.massgeneral.org
Click to expand...
Well, you are correct. However, it still needs some context. PM&R is a different world compared to the old guard medical specialties. Even surgery and surgical subspecialties don't hold a candle to medicine.

I go to an "upper mid-tier" school that collaborates closely with one of the behemoth institutions of medicine. I am co-advised by a department chair of said behemoth for my PhD (i.e., the chair has multiple grants with my PI), and the pretentiousness I've seen has been at times staggering. I saw an ID fellow from my institution forced out of the lab, and every interaction between the fellow and this chair was peppered with condescension about their training. Mind you, this is a fellow with a complete training history at "solid" top 30-50 institutions.

So maybe it's possible, but I think for DOs or MDs from non-top 20 (or even top 10) institutions, chasing some dream of being a big name at a top tier hospital is foolish. Likely it would result in years of languishing with low pay in an academic center. If you miss out on the absolute top schools (like me), and you want to be broadly influential, you are likely better off in a different environment.
Angus Avagadro said:
But what is the motivation to be Chief of Anything? Usually The Chief has been riding a desk for 10 or 20 yrs and probably not the person to be taking care of your family. We need administrators to attend meeting and help plot the course of the medical school. It seems like a huge wast of time, money and talent to go through the rigid training process in medicine to sit at a desk, deal with dept drama, and attend meetings all day.
Click to expand...
This would just come down to preference and how you want to make an impact on your patients and the world. The positions are highly competitive and, depending on the institution, pay 2x the salary of an average Associate Professor, often eclipsing seven figures. This is verifiable on public databases like transparent California. So people chase these positions. It's a lot like the engineering/science vs. management debate that early career scientists in pharma or biotech go through. Some people are passionate about work in the trenches, others want to manage from above. Clinical medicine is unique in that managerial salaries aren't all head and shoulders above what you make in the trenches, but the dynamic is similar.
 
ChordaEpiphany said:
So maybe it's possible, but I think for DOs or MDs from non-top 20 (or even top 10) institutions, chasing some dream of being a big name at a top tier hospital is foolish. Likely it would result in years of languishing with low pay in an academic center. If you miss out on the absolute top schools (like me), and you want to be broadly influential, you are likely better off in a different environment.
Click to expand...
This is not true for MDs, as there are grads from places like NYMC in major leading positions at MGH in IM subspecialties and having over 600+ papers and overshadowing Harvard-only colleagues. This is also seen in Penn, JHU, Columbia etc. Granted, these guys went to top tier residencies and fellowships so that likely helped a lot

It's harder to find DOs in IM at ultratop places probably because of the self-selection that takes place at IM residency application process. IM can be snobby but they're more receptive to US MD grads probably because of the persistence of anti DO bias
 
There are a good amount of residents at MGH from non top 20 schools. So it’s def possible to outperform your school tier, as you said.
Lawpy said:
This is not true for MDs, as there are grads from places like NYMC in major leading positions at MGH in IM subspecialties and having over 600+ papers and overshadowing Harvard-only colleagues. This is also seen in Penn, JHU, Columbia etc. Granted, these guys went to top tier residencies and fellowships so that likely helped a lot

It's harder to find DOs in IM at ultratop places probably because of the self-selection that takes place at IM residency application process. IM can be snobby but they're more receptive to US MD grads probably because of the persistence of anti DO bias
Click to expand...
 
ChordaEpiphany said:
Well, you are correct. However, it still needs some context. PM&R is a different world compared to the old guard medical specialties. Even surgery and surgical subspecialties don't hold a candle to medicine.

I go to an "upper mid-tier" school that collaborates closely with one of the behemoth institutions of medicine. I am co-advised by a department chair of said behemoth for my PhD (i.e., the chair has multiple grants with my PI), and the pretentiousness I've seen has been at times staggering. I saw an ID fellow from my institution forced out of the lab, and every interaction between the fellow and this chair was peppered with condescension about their training. Mind you, this is a fellow with a complete training history at "solid" top 30-50 institutions.

So maybe it's possible, but I think for DOs or MDs from non-top 20 (or even top 10) institutions, chasing some dream of being a big name at a top tier hospital is foolish. Likely it would result in years of languishing with low pay in an academic center. If you miss out on the absolute top schools (like me), and you want to be broadly influential, you are likely better off in a different environment.

This would just come down to preference and how you want to make an impact on your patients and the world. The positions are highly competitive and, depending on the institution, pay 2x the salary of an average Associate Professor, often eclipsing seven figures. This is verifiable on public databases like transparent California. So people chase these positions. It's a lot like the engineering/science vs. management debate that early career scientists in pharma or biotech go through. Some people are passionate about work in the trenches, others want to manage from above. Clinical medicine is unique in that managerial salaries aren't all head and shoulders above what you make in the trenches, but the dynamic is similar.
Click to expand...
I think you make a good point. I checked the public records of my former neighbor, who is a relatively unimpressive person and started as a practice manager at our local uni.His survival skills are at the level of a cockroach, meaning very impressive. He eventualy slurped his way up to Exec VP. His executive compensation for 2020 was in excess of 2 million. Only 1 or 2 dept chairs slightly exceeded his. I think this helps both our points. Yours that Dept Chairs make well in excess of clinical faculty, and mine that med school cost and training might not justify becoming an administrator as my neighbor who was no academic star did it much quicker and cheaper.
 
ChordaEpiphany said:
I go to an "upper mid-tier" school that collaborates closely with one of the behemoth institutions of medicine. I am co-advised by a department chair of said behemoth for my PhD (i.e., the chair has multiple grants with my PI), and the pretentiousness I've seen has been at times staggering. I saw an ID fellow from my institution forced out of the lab, and every interaction between the fellow and this chair was peppered with condescension about their training. Mind you, this is a fellow with a complete training history at "solid" top 30-50 institutions.
Click to expand...
I have a lot of reservations about my current school, but at least the residents and attendings at its associated health system aren't stuck on prestige. At the residency level, it's a solid hospital system that offers solid training and decent research in most specialties, and it doesn't sell itself as more than that - neither do the residents. Med school and residency have enough interesting personalities as it is, so I can't imagine name-fixating ones being added into the mix lol

Also I've heard that in many cases it's easier to get an attending job at a prestigious hospital than to go to residency there. A lot of big names don't offer much for salary and benefits which helps weed out a lot of the competition. I'm sure rising up in leadership or getting a position with significant research funding is still prestigious-***-MD-heavy, but just to work there it isn't quite as bad
 
altblue said:
Also I've heard that in many cases it's easier to get an attending job at a prestigious hospital than to go to residency there. A lot of big names don't offer much for salary and benefits which helps weed out a lot of the competition. I'm sure rising up in leadership or getting a position with significant research funding is still prestigious-***-MD-heavy, but just to work there it isn't quite as bad
Click to expand...
Attending job? Yes. Professorship? Not at all. Huge difference between someone who works as an attending vs. as a professor. You will see tons of physicians at top hospitals with job titles like, "Assistant of Medicine" or "Attending Physician," and they are just employed physicians. The hospital where they work just happens to be JHH or MGH or wherever. These positions are not super competitive, and my understanding is that people usually take them for the lifestyle or variety they offer. They offer little academic benefit but pay less than working at a fancy private hospital in a rich area with excellent insurance mix (and far less than private practice).

Physicians with titles like "Assistant/Associate/Full Professor of Medicine" are professors who are working their way up the academic ladder. These positions pay even less than the non-tenure track positions, but are far more competitive. You need an extensive publication profile and the capacity to bring in lots of grant money. This is the delayed gratification Olympic finals. Make 60-75% what your colleagues in private practice make for a shot at carving a legacy for yourself. People often slingshot these professorships to Chief or Chair positions at lower-ranked medical schools, which can then pay even better than private practice while also yielding significant influence. A tiny minority will become larger than life, and the promise of those opportunities along with the ability to do research keeps salaries low and competition extremely intense.
 
Question: I'm interested in academic medicine, moreso the teaching side rather than the research. Is this more DO friendly? Would this also be the "professor of medicine" title or more like the "attending" title? What about compensation? Sorry, this may not be the right place to ask, but you all seem knowledgeable about academic medicine.
 
ChordaEpiphany said:
I'm not sure exactly what @83462 is asking, but there's a huge difference between "teaching" and having a tenure-track professorship. Non-titled MDs at medical schools are employees of the hospital that are often recruited for help on clerkships. Then there are a slew of "Instructor" or "Adjunct" positions that have some ties to the medical school and sometimes give lectures. Finally there are the tenure track faculty that have significantly more teaching/research responsibility and a lot more upward mobility within the medical school system. All of them teach in some capacity, but only the tenure-track faculty are legitimately vying for higher and higher promotions and more influence within the med school. The non-tenure track faculty are often paid more, because they spend more time seeing patients, but the DOs teaching at a mid-tier MD school probably aren't in positions that will lead to being Chief of Medicine or getting absorbed into the upper levels of hospital leadership.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna throw out that this is going to vary hugely based on the structure of a given medical school. I currently hold two academic appointments at two separate medical schools. Neither medical school compensates me for my time, but I'm not considered an adjunct faculty member, just a non-tenure track. I can still go for promotion on either a regular physician track or a modified physician track (i.e. promoted to 'Clinical Associate Professor' instead of 'Associate Professor') depending on my scholarly activity spread. But even those who do get some funding from the medical school for their time (such as the clerkship director, various deans, etc) are still in the non-tenure track and can still work on becoming more influential in the medical school/health system. The former interim chair of our department is now one of the Vice Presidents of the Health System. Another one of our faculty serves as a Dean of the SOM.

@83462 , FWIW, we have several DOs in our division and one of them is one of the most prolific researchers in our division and managed to get promoted to Associate Professor in 5 years. The main GME person at our hospital (overseeing something absurd like 100 training programs) is also a DO. The MDs far outnumber the DOs in leadership, but if it's something you're interested in, you can make it happen.
 
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