Hi All

[MotionDoc]

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Hi All,

I am curious if any MD/PhD programs are geared towards clinical rehabilitation, rehabilitation engineering, or anything similar?

Best,

 

[Build]

You won't find entire MD/PhD programs that are geared towards this topic per say, but you can find schools with strong rehab programs and strong engineering programs and cross the two yourself. Rehab isn't my area of interest, though I am told northwestern has an excellent program for rehab engineering (and clearly an excellent medical school). You could also look at schools with strong neural engineering programs that do work in prosthetics and neural robotics such as Duke and Pitt. If you know the field well, I would encourage starting with schools with notable rehab/eng research. Current and past PIs would be able to recommend programs. If your list seems slim, expand it by thinking of ways you could bridge strong unrelated engineering programs to clinical rehab work. Most MD/PhD programs will tend to be heavily weighted towards basic biomedical research, even those in BME. If you are really looking to dig into the engineering/device side of this field, I've found that schools that have strong classical engineering programs (mechE, EE, chemE) often foster the positive engineering environment that most MD/PhD programs don't.

 

[dmblue]

You won't find entire MD/PhD programs that are geared towards this topic per say, but you can find schools with strong rehab programs and strong engineering programs and cross the two yourself. Rehab isn't my area of interest, though I am told northwestern has an excellent program for rehab engineering (and clearly an excellent medical school). You could also look at schools with strong neural engineering programs that do work in prosthetics and neural robotics such as Duke and Pitt. If you know the field well, I would encourage starting with schools with notable rehab/eng research. Current and past PIs would be able to recommend programs. If your list seems slim, expand it by thinking of ways you could bridge strong unrelated engineering programs to clinical rehab work. Most MD/PhD programs will tend to be heavily weighted towards basic biomedical research, even those in BME. If you are really looking to dig into the engineering/device side of this field, I've found that schools that have strong classical engineering programs (mechE, EE, chemE) often foster the positive engineering environment that most MD/PhD programs don't.

Agreed

NU is good
U of Michigan also has one of the top prosthetics departments
Look at BME programs at the schools and see what they focus on. You can definitely do a phd in this field.

 

[MotionDoc]

Agreed

NU is good
U of Michigan also has one of the top prosthetics departments
Look at BME programs at the schools and see what they focus on. You can definitely do a phd in this field.

Thank you fellas. I am actually already pursuing a PhD in Biomechanics (with a focus on rehabilitation engineering and motor control) as part of a dual degree (DPT/PhD) program. I am very well aware of the excellent work coming out of the programs you've mentioned, but in my experience have seen very few physicians actually performing this type of research. It was somewhat surprising to me, but I guess does make sense considering the nature of physician training and practice.

 

[Build]

Thank you fellas. I am actually already pursuing a PhD in Biomechanics (with a focus on rehabilitation engineering and motor control) as part of a dual degree (DPT/PhD) program. I am very well aware of the excellent work coming out of the programs you've mentioned, but in my experience have seen very few physicians actually performing this type of research. It was somewhat surprising to me, but I guess does make sense considering the nature of physician training and practice.

I can relate to you in regards to trying to find physicians already doing the kinds of research/clinical combinations I want to make in my own career. For me, I've shifted my goals towards finding individuals doing parts of my interests well. For example, I'm interested in medical diagnostics development so I found a chemical engineer that is doing the fundamental work in analytical chemical engineering that I'd like to apply to medicine. On the other side, I've found clinicians in fields of interest to me also involved in tech development/medical entrepreneurism.

Another thing that has worked well for me is really refining what my interests are for research and career and then talking it over with senior clinicians and researchers who have experience to share. This paid off for me when I chatted with a faculty in clinical pathology at Pitt who suggested looking at the chem E faculty at CMU. Even if they aren't doing exactly what you want, they should have insights into how you might reach your goals.

I'm only a year in, so my approach may not actually work. But I'm pretty happy with my current arrangement and enjoy talking to fellow clinician engineers about their approach.

Specifically, what are you trying to figure out? Where to go study next? How to integrate your interests at your current program?

 

[MotionDoc]

I can relate to you in regards to trying to find physicians already doing the kinds of research/clinical combinations I want to make in my own career. For me, I've shifted my goals towards finding individuals doing parts of my interests well. For example, I'm interested in medical diagnostics development so I found a chemical engineer that is doing the fundamental work in analytical chemical engineering that I'd like to apply to medicine. On the other side, I've found clinicians in fields of interest to me also involved in tech development/medical entrepreneurism.

Another thing that has worked well for me is really refining what my interests are for research and career and then talking it over with senior clinicians and researchers who have experience to share. This paid off for me when I chatted with a faculty in clinical pathology at Pitt who suggested looking at the chem E faculty at CMU. Even if they aren't doing exactly what you want, they should have insights into how you might reach your goals.

I'm only a year in, so my approach may not actually work. But I'm pretty happy with my current arrangement and enjoy talking to fellow clinician engineers about their approach.

Specifically, what are you trying to figure out? Where to go study next? How to integrate your interests at your current program?

That's the problem, there is so much out there that I am having difficulty narrowing down my interests. I am still in the "what's out there?" phase, and probably will be here a large chunk of my career 😉. I am quite certain neurorehab is where I will eventually end up, but considering the inter-disciplinary approach my adviser and all in his lab take with practically every project, I am having difficulty focusing! I am particularly curious where physician-engineers (if they exist!) end up...I am guessing industry.

 

[Build]

That's the problem, there is so much out there that I am having difficulty narrowing down my interests. I am still in the "what's out there?" phase, and probably will be here a large chunk of my career 😉. I am quite certain neurorehab is where I will eventually end up, but considering the inter-disciplinary approach my adviser and all in his lab take with practically every project, I am having difficulty focusing! I am particularly curious where physician-engineers (if they exist!) end up...I am guessing industry.

Me too! I think the tendency for physician-engineers to drift into industry is because of the interest in moving actual products into clinical practice. My primary goal is to be in a position to develop my own ideas and move them into the clinic. Whether it's best achieved through academics or industry is TBD for me.

I'm interested to see how my interests will fit into residency/fellowships. Right now, I can mosey over to the engineering department where my PI's funding comes primarily from non-NIH sources with some phase I SBIRs. Most SOM depts traditionally rely on NIH funding which typically does not fund much tech development. The drawback will be finding the right home for my research background, the plus will be that I may just get a chance to try something totally different for a while.

There's been an ongoing trend to try and see more "applied" research come out of some universities. I've seen this work poorly in some cases where there's a lot of lip-service but you're essentially trying to teach basic bio dogs to do applied/engineering tricks. It's not that one is better than the other, but I think there are differences in training and culture that can't be changed overnight or by simple initiatives. I'm guessing that the best place for physician-engineers interested in academics to head is to the universities that already have well established ties to industry collaboration. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for fighting uphill battles over culture differences.

Do you work for a PI that interfaces with industry? Do you see that as a plus or minus (or neutral I suppose)?