Is GBM research mainly in medonc, radonc, neurology or neurosurgery?
Hard to give a good answer, besides all of the above. In terms of the type of research, I would say you could clump it mostly into medonc and rad onc (a very rough clumping). However, the people doing this research come from all of the specialties you've mentioned. From a neurosurgery point of view, there is often a focus on drug delivery, given that whole blood brain barrier problem, and the infiltrative nature of GBM: a hard problem for physicians that can't cut thru the meninges. Neurosurgeons in general are less involved with true basic research given their time constraints in the clinic and OR. However, their are many exceptions to this ie. Keith Black, Mitch Berger etc. etc.
I'll make the assumption that you are interested in glioma research and want to decide what specialty is most appropriate. If this is the case, then it depends on what kind of research you want to do. If basic science is your thing, then I'd suggest rad onc or med onc/neurology. These will give you more free time, something needed to run a successful lab. It's important to note that you can become a "neuro-oncologist" through an internal medicine or neurology route. However, overall, rad onc will probably give you the most free time outside of clinic to pursue basic research
With regards to neurosurgery, most attendings focus on clinical research ie. clinical trials, surgical approaches/techniques, collaboration with rad onc on bracytherapy and other rad delivery systems. As stated above, you can do basic research, but it's much harder. Most neurosurgeons that do basic research generally have more of a consulting role, or run a lab with the help of PhD's that have the time to be hands on and involved in the lab's daily activities.
Sorry for the long winded answer. Hope it helps.
