From clinical MD --> Research Work

[dwil75]

Anyone ever done this or know of how this transition is done? What opportunities are available? (I am currently in a clinical medicine residency and considering other options as I am not sure this is the right career for me).

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[ClarinetGeek]

I dont' know much, but look into fellowships that provide protected time for research or look into a postdoc. Others on this forum should be able to provide more information.

 

[dr.z]

I dont' know much, but look into fellowships that provide protected time for research or look into a postdoc. Others on this forum should be able to provide more information.

I agree. Look into fellowship or postdoc.

 

[ClarinetGeek]

I dont' know much, but look into fellowships that provide protected time for research or look into a postdoc. Others on this forum should be able to provide more information.

Perhaps I should be a bit more specific with terminology (which I hope is correct).

Fellowship with protect research time refers to a clinical fellowship where part of the time is spent in clinic and other part working a research project (50-80%).

Postdoc refers to a post-doctoral fellowship where you spent 100% of your time conducting research and generally has no ties to a clinical department.

 

[Shatterstar17]

Perhaps I should be a bit more specific with terminology (which I hope is correct).

Fellowship with protect research time refers to a clinical fellowship where part of the time is spent in clinic and other part working a research project (50-80%).

Postdoc refers to a post-doctoral fellowship where you spent 100% of your time conducting research and generally has no ties to a clinical department.

I'm working at NIH and many of the MD-fellows here (I know very specifically only of pediatric endocrinologists) have chosen to do quite involved basic science projects. It might be a good idea to find an institution where you'll have the option to do good basic science during your fellowship, then find the lab with perhaps an MD/PhD PI who will be willing to give you a good bit of mentoring. If you've enjoyed your basic science training, then there's always the option option of doing a post-doc afterward. And if you haven't, well, you're ready to practice medicine.

 

[dwil75]

I'm working at NIH and many of the MD-fellows here (I know very specifically only of pediatric endocrinologists) have chosen to do quite involved basic science projects. It might be a good idea to find an institution where you'll have the option to do good basic science during your fellowship, then find the lab with perhaps an MD/PhD PI who will be willing to give you a good bit of mentoring. If you've enjoyed your basic science training, then there's always the option option of doing a post-doc afterward. And if you haven't, well, you're ready to practice medicine.

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate the help. Just to clarify, I have not completed residency. Are these positions, including fellowship, open to to med school graduates who have not done residency? Any advice where I would search online or who to contact to look for open positions?

 

[ClarinetGeek]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate the help. Just to clarify, I have not completed residency. Are these positions, including fellowship, open to to med school graduates who have not done residency? Any advice where I would search online or who to contact to look for open positions?

Well if you are in a residency already, does it matter?

To answer your questions, the postdoc I guess could be done after med school although I wouldn't recommend it. It makes more sense to do the residency fresh out of med school. With the fellowship, I would surmise that you would have needed to complete the residency b/c it is a clinical fellowship (with research as an aside) which would require the residency completed before hand reguardless.

I believe there are also condensed programs that include residency and research. But I could be wrong... These I think are for MD/PhDs. You wouldn't start research projects until a few years into the program though. I can't remember that these programs are call (that if such a thing exists). In your case, this wouldn't really work for you b/c you don't have the PhD and are already in a residency program.

Please note that I am just starting my M1 year, so I really am not well educated on this stuff. This is just things I have picked up along the way. So I am sketchy on this. Again, hopefully others you know more can provide more detailed and accurate information.

 

[gutonc]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate the help. Just to clarify, I have not completed residency. Are these positions, including fellowship, open to to med school graduates who have not done residency? Any advice where I would search online or who to contact to look for open positions?

In order to do a clinical fellowship you must first do a residency. In order to do a research fellowship (aka post-doc) you must have completed some sort of graduate school (usually PhD+- MD), although MD-only occassionally happens).

There are "research residencies" which are also known (spuriously) as fast-track programs in IM (and a few other specialties although they work differently) in which you do 2 years of IM residency, then 12-30 months of a clinical fellowship (depending on your specialty) followed by a 3-year post-doc. Many university IM programs have such a track(about 80% of the programs I looked into offered this either formally or informally) and they are not limited to MD/PhDs. In fact, they were originally designed to lure non-PhDs into research. In reality, by the time people get to residency, most have decided whether they're really interested in clinical or research work, and the ones who are interested in research have been for some time and already got a PhD. Of the roughly 70 people I met on the "fast track" interview trail last winter, only 1 didn't have a PhD (and he had an MPH and was interested in clinical outcomes research).

So...long answer above...short answer, yes you can do research after clinical work and there are plenty of ways to get into it.

Good luck,

BE (now PE)