- Joined
- Aug 10, 2011
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Hi all,
I'm hoping to get a little bit of career advice as I am feeling a bit lost currently. I will be starting fellowship in July at a prominent, research focused east coast program. Through medical school and residency I have worked hard on research leading to quite a few publications although most of these have been just effort/time based (i.e. data collection and statistical analysis) and none were really game-changing stuff overall. My personal goal had always been to be an academic solid tumor oncologist (most of my work in GI) and it seems the research has been quite helpful in securing the residency and fellowship programs I've desired.
Having said this, a few things have changed recently. I worked as a hospitalist this last year and found I really enjoyed providing clinical care independently. Also, I loved having more time for things in my life outside of medicine. Finally, I have one small child and another planned for during fellowship making eventual income and time at home with them the two most important things to me by far. My wife is a pretty high earning professional as well so I really just want my job to feel meaningful and pay decently for the time I am working while allowing me to be present with my family.
I foresee choosing a practice setting that will prioritize overall balance of income and quality of life instead of academics. I am still interested in research intellectually, particularly clinical trials and translational work; however, the income/QOL factors will be paramount when choosing a job.
My questions for the group:
1) With the above criteria, it seems private practice or employed, non-academic roles will be what I end up choosing. Does this seem correct? I wouldn't be opposed to industry roles either but seems less likely given my lack of truly robust research credentials (no PhD, mostly retrospective projects).
2) If I am planning on non-academic roles, how should I best utilize my time in fellowship and position myself within the program? My program heavily encourages single boarding and only a half day of clinic in last 18-24 months. I'm leaning towards double boarding but am curious if this is the right decision? Should I pack in tons of clinic voluntarily during research time? Work on research the same way I would have otherwise to keep industry doors open?
3) Should this pivot in my overall goals be made explicitly to my program given my CV has leaned pretty heavily into clinical research and academics?
Overall, I am an industrious and dedicated person; however, I am just ready for medicine to not be my entire life once I am an attending and I want to use fellowship time intelligently to make sure I am as good as I can be at my eventual job.
Thanks all for your time and thoughts!
I'm hoping to get a little bit of career advice as I am feeling a bit lost currently. I will be starting fellowship in July at a prominent, research focused east coast program. Through medical school and residency I have worked hard on research leading to quite a few publications although most of these have been just effort/time based (i.e. data collection and statistical analysis) and none were really game-changing stuff overall. My personal goal had always been to be an academic solid tumor oncologist (most of my work in GI) and it seems the research has been quite helpful in securing the residency and fellowship programs I've desired.
Having said this, a few things have changed recently. I worked as a hospitalist this last year and found I really enjoyed providing clinical care independently. Also, I loved having more time for things in my life outside of medicine. Finally, I have one small child and another planned for during fellowship making eventual income and time at home with them the two most important things to me by far. My wife is a pretty high earning professional as well so I really just want my job to feel meaningful and pay decently for the time I am working while allowing me to be present with my family.
I foresee choosing a practice setting that will prioritize overall balance of income and quality of life instead of academics. I am still interested in research intellectually, particularly clinical trials and translational work; however, the income/QOL factors will be paramount when choosing a job.
My questions for the group:
1) With the above criteria, it seems private practice or employed, non-academic roles will be what I end up choosing. Does this seem correct? I wouldn't be opposed to industry roles either but seems less likely given my lack of truly robust research credentials (no PhD, mostly retrospective projects).
2) If I am planning on non-academic roles, how should I best utilize my time in fellowship and position myself within the program? My program heavily encourages single boarding and only a half day of clinic in last 18-24 months. I'm leaning towards double boarding but am curious if this is the right decision? Should I pack in tons of clinic voluntarily during research time? Work on research the same way I would have otherwise to keep industry doors open?
3) Should this pivot in my overall goals be made explicitly to my program given my CV has leaned pretty heavily into clinical research and academics?
Overall, I am an industrious and dedicated person; however, I am just ready for medicine to not be my entire life once I am an attending and I want to use fellowship time intelligently to make sure I am as good as I can be at my eventual job.
Thanks all for your time and thoughts!
