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I'm a current third year medical student with some background of translational science research in oncology. I'm exploring a few different surgical fields but also want basic/translational research to be a large component of my career once my medical training is over. So I'm wondering when my future career would be best served by taking some research years: between 3rd and 4th year of medical school, during residency, or during fellowship? I'd love to do it at each level but don't think I can push off employment that long!
Part of me wants to try for something like a HHMI fellowship now. Or, if I do research during residency, there are several programs which have T32-funded research years built in. My concern with this is if research during these medical school or residency---especially during medical school---would be worth a damn to potential employers when the time comes to apply for jobs. To this end, I'd think research done during a fellowship would be more focused and impactful, and thus more valuable to my career. On the other hand, I'm wondering what the odds of landing a fellowship with a built in research component are if I haven't taken any formal time off to do research before that point. I'd really appreciate the insight from people who had similar goals and took time off at any of these stages in their training!
Part of me wants to try for something like a HHMI fellowship now. Or, if I do research during residency, there are several programs which have T32-funded research years built in. My concern with this is if research during these medical school or residency---especially during medical school---would be worth a damn to potential employers when the time comes to apply for jobs. To this end, I'd think research done during a fellowship would be more focused and impactful, and thus more valuable to my career. On the other hand, I'm wondering what the odds of landing a fellowship with a built in research component are if I haven't taken any formal time off to do research before that point. I'd really appreciate the insight from people who had similar goals and took time off at any of these stages in their training!
