DO and teaching

[Giovanotto]

So far, I have come up with two potential careers for my future: Teaching and Medicine. I'm definitely trying to keep my options open and I'd like some advice regarding possibilities in the future.

Say I go to medical school, become a clinician, and around 15 years after practicing medicine I decide I want to teach. Right now, at my young age, I believe it would be fun/fulfilling to teach pre-meds the basics, such as general bio/chem. Is this a possible hypothetical scenario?

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[Stagg737]

So far, I have come up with two potential careers for my future: Teaching and Medicine. I'm definitely trying to keep my options open and I'd like some advice regarding possibilities in the future.

Say I go to medical school, become a clinician, and around 15 years after practicing medicine I decide I want to teach. Right now, at my young age, I believe it would be fun/fulfilling to teach pre-meds the basics, such as general bio/chem. Is this a possible hypothetical scenario?

Yes. Plenty of people go into medicine to teach, though it's generally at the medical school level and not at the pre-med level. I'm sure some colleges would drool at having the chance to have an MD or DO on faculty as a science prof though.

 

[Seth Joo]

So far, I have come up with two potential careers for my future: Teaching and Medicine. I'm definitely trying to keep my options open and I'd like some advice regarding possibilities in the future.

Say I go to medical school, become a clinician, and around 15 years after practicing medicine I decide I want to teach. Right now, at my young age, I believe it would be fun/fulfilling to teach pre-meds the basics, such as general bio/chem. Is this a possible hypothetical scenario?

You can go into teaching as a DO I do not see this as being an issue but you would be teaching clinical medicine not the basic sciences.

 

[Giovanotto]

You can go into teaching as a DO I do not see this as being an issue but you would be teaching clinical medicine not the basic sciences.

A four year undergraduate college would not hire me as a DO to be part of their science faculty? @Stagg737 seems to have said otherwise.

Or, do you mean I could teach physio/endo/immunology at a four year college just fine?

 

[deleted407021]

A four year undergraduate college would not hire me as a DO to be part of their science faculty? @Stagg737 seems to have said otherwise.

Or, do you mean I could teach physio/endo/immunology at a four year college just fine?

My UG genetics teacher was an MD, non-PhD. I'm sure you could come up with some arrangement. I hope so, as you and I share the same interest! ^^

Teaching a college class would def. be something I'd do after retiring from practice.

 

[Stagg737]

A four year undergraduate college would not hire me as a DO to be part of their science faculty? @Stagg737 seems to have said otherwise.

Or, do you mean I could teach physio/endo/immunology at a four year college just fine?

It depends on what you specialize in and what you want to teach. If you want to teach something like zoology, then obviously not. However, I would think a psychiatrist could easily be hired to teach abnormal psych or some sort of clinical psych. A sports med or ortho guy could probably teach courses like kinesiology or exercise medicine. A general surgeon could certainly teach anatomy. Generally speaking, I agree it would be easier to get a job as a clinical faculty member than a basic sciences prof, but it's certainly not impossible to do it. I think a major reason more people don't do it is because A) they want to see patients. B) They'd rather teach at a medical school where the students can relate more and where the prof can give more specific advice. C) $$$$.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Right, I think most universities would drool over having an adjunct who is a physician.

 

[Seth Joo]

Right, I think most universities would drool over having an adjunct who is a physician.

An adjunct means you have no real salary or standing with the school. Given how salaries are in most academic institutions you have to wonder about how one repays their student loan debt.

 

[ortnakas]

There's a chance, but the vast majority of undergraduate professors teach in the subject in which they have their doctorate-- so biochemistry professors tend to have biochemistry/molecular biology degrees, chemistry professors have chemistry degrees, etc. As an MD or a DO, it's probably possible to find a position teaching undergraduate anatomy or physiology, but a position teaching med students is probably the more likely scenario.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

An adjunct means you have no real salary or standing with the school. Given how salaries are in most academic institutions you have to wonder about how one repays their student loan debt.

Well chances are you won't be an assistant professor at an undergrad or graduate level just because you have a medical degree and opt to teach a subject from your field.

 

[Stagg737]

An adjunct means you have no real salary or standing with the school. Given how salaries are in most academic institutions you have to wonder about how one repays their student loan debt.

Right, but most professors, even at the med school level, will still see patients a few days a week. It's not like clinical faculty's entire salary is coming from teaching, they probably make a decent amount of change seeing patients on the side. Besides, a lot of med school professors that are MDs or DOs don't go straight into academia. They usually get some clinical years under their belts before getting hired, otherwise how would a med school know if they had the experience to actually be teaching students?

 

[Seth Joo]

Right, but most professors, even at the med school level, will still see patients a few days a week. It's not like clinical faculty's entire salary is coming from teaching, they probably make a decent amount of change seeing patients on the side. Besides, a lot of med school professors that are MDs or DOs don't go straight into academia. They usually get some clinical years under their belts before getting hired, otherwise how would a med school know if they had the experience to actually be teaching students?

This is usually the case, but from a financial perspective, it makes no sense to go into academia after medical school given the amount of debt you will incur, it might make sense to teach part time, but if you are going to pay back your student loans you need to practice medicine and treat patients. If you really want to teach, its better to get a Phd which is free, and then go into academia, of course you cannot practice Medicine in that case.

 

[Stagg737]

This is usually the case, but from a financial perspective, it makes no sense to go into academia after medical school given the amount of debt you will incur, it might make sense to teach part time, but if you are going to pay back your student loans you need to practice medicine and treat patients. If you really want to teach, its better to get a Phd which is free, and then go into academia, of course you cannot practice Medicine in that case.

PhD depends on what you would want to teach though. If it's UG, or maybe even pre-clinical, then I agree that it would be better. If you want to teach clinically you've gotta get the MD/DO though. Also, like I said earlier, I don't think most places would hire someone to teach unless they had a couple of years of independent practice under their belt first. I don't think I can name any professors who got a teaching position straight out of residency, so you'd likely have to practice clinically for a few years before getting hired, which would give you some time to pay off that huge debt.

 

[Seth Joo]

PhD depends on what you would want to teach though. If it's UG, or maybe even pre-clinical, then I agree that it would be better. If you want to teach clinically you've gotta get the MD/DO though. Also, like I said earlier, I don't think most places would hire someone to teach unless they had a couple of years of independent practice under their belt first. I don't think I can name any professors who got a teaching position straight out of residency, so you'd likely have to practice clinically for a few years before getting hired, which would give you some time to pay off that huge debt.

That is why they have DO-Phd programs, MSU and TCOM both offer them, it is a much longer commitment than one degree.

 

[Stagg737]

That is why they have DO-Phd programs, MSU and TCOM both offer them, it is a much longer commitment than one degree.

I believe those programs are typically for people who want to be physician researchers, though I suppose it would be easier to get a pre-clinical teaching position as a MD/DO-PhD.

 

[Seth Joo]

I believe those programs are typically for people who want to be physician researchers, though I suppose it would be easier to get a pre-clinical teaching position as a MD/DO-PhD.

Most of those programs are for people who want to get into research, but many researchers also teach.