How to get a career in academics ?

[harbahmad]

Hello guys !

I have just matched into a IM community program (probably univ, affiliated). Hoping to go into fellowship.

What are the options for going into academics later on (teaching, research) ?

Do these positions require extra credentials ? And is it possible to get involved even after i matched into a community program ?

Thanks

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[InternistDO]

Depends on what fellowship, and what you mean by "academics". Does that mean a true academic professor doing lots of research and less clinical medicine at a huge academic center? Does it mean doing some clinical teaching? Do you mean just working at a tertiary care center?

The short answer is that usually the path to academics is generating lots and lots of research during residency and beyond. But since academics pays less, clinical professor jobs are usually not hard to get at all if you're mostly interested in teaching.

 

[harbahmad]

Yeah I mostly mean research and advancement in medicine.

 

[gutonc]

Yeah I mostly mean research and advancement in medicine.

What kind of research? In what area?

 

[Residentdoc86]

TRUE academics generally means getting a ton of grants for research with pressure from the administration to publish work often. Everything in-between is "Fakedemia". Getting INH grants isn't easy. Also, community IM programs tend to be light on attendings who are willing to dedicate extra time outside clinical work to supervise your simple QI project, let alone groundbreaking research.

IMO, focus on what you need to do to get into fellowship while in training, and if you truly want to be in academia, it's not hard.

 

[harbahmad]

What kind of research? In what area?

I'm aiming for cards.
I am also a programmer so I want to do research in cardiology tech.
Would a masters in health informatics / biomechanical engineering help? (I know I might be aiming too high and could burn myself during residency, but if it means I get what I want I would do it)

 

[mszzeta]

I'm aiming for cards.
I am also a programmer so I want to do research in cardiology tech.
Would a masters in health informatics / biomechanical engineering help? (I know I might be aiming too high and could burn myself during residency, but if it means I get what I want I would do it)

Your aim should be to get to the most prestigious cardiology program as possible. However, this is not very easy given the competitive nature of the cardiology match and disadvantages from an community residency. It is not impossible, but difficult to have a replicable path to follow.

Being a programmer puts you at an advantage to do data-driven research. But still, you will need good mentors and resources (good dataset) which can be difficult to find in a community hospital. If your hospital is university affiliated, try to see if you can get connections for mentorship from the university main hospital

It is probably not possible to get a master degree while in residency (some part-time night program? most people would burn out as residency is often very intense in clinical work). I do know people who do master program after residency and then go to good fellowship. The biggest problem for this is probably tuition.

What do you mean "cardiology tech"? If this is about the hardware of diagnostic test (research better ultrasound machine?), this is probably an extremely small field that very few MD in the world do them......

 

[bronx43]

I'm aiming for cards.
I am also a programmer so I want to do research in cardiology tech.
Would a masters in health informatics / biomechanical engineering help? (I know I might be aiming too high and could burn myself during residency, but if it means I get what I want I would do it)

Honestly nothing really helps unless you somehow work with a funded mentor (extremely rare in itself) doing exactly the kind of work you want to do and publish a bunch of papers under their wing. Then… maybe then will you have a shot at your own NIH grant.

Academics is a graveyard for people wanting to do “research” but never made it. And if you don’t make it then you’ll languish in “fakedemia” which is the worst fate that can possibly befall a young physician these days. You’ll basically be doing private practice volume making half the money.

 

[harbahmad]

TRUE academics generally means getting a ton of grants for research with pressure from the administration to publish work often. Everything in-between is "Fakedemia". Getting INH grants isn't easy. Also, community IM programs tend to be light on attendings who are willing to dedicate extra time outside clinical work to supervise your simple QI project, let alone groundbreaking research.

IMO, focus on what you need to do to get into fellowship while in training, and if you truly want to be in academia, it's not hard.

Honestly nothing really helps unless you somehow work with a funded mentor (extremely rare in itself) doing exactly the kind of work you want to do and publish a bunch of papers under their wing. Then… maybe then will you have a shot at your own NIH grant.

Academics is a graveyard for people wanting to do “research” but never made it. And if you don’t make it then you’ll languish in “fakedemia” which is the worst fate that can possibly befall a young physician these days. You’ll basically be doing private practice volume making half the money.

"Fakedemia", I never thought of it that way. Thank you for the input.

 

[harbahmad]

Your aim should be to get to the most prestigious cardiology program as possible. However, this is not very easy given the competitive nature of the cardiology match and disadvantages from an community residency. It is not impossible, but difficult to have a replicable path to follow.

Being a programmer puts you at an advantage to do data-driven research. But still, you will need good mentors and resources (good dataset) which can be difficult to find in a community hospital. If your hospital is university affiliated, try to see if you can get connections for mentorship from the university main hospital

It is probably not possible to get a master degree while in residency (some part-time night program? most people would burn out as residency is often very intense in clinical work). I do know people who do master program after residency and then go to good fellowship. The biggest problem for this is probably tuition.

What do you mean "cardiology tech"? If this is about the hardware of diagnostic test (research better ultrasound machine?), this is probably an extremely small field that very few MD in the world do them......

Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking of an online at-your-own-pace kind of masters.

 

[NonNocere]

Have you tried asking folks in academia, who you aspire to be like, how they got there and what their advice might be?