how to get a career in biomedical research

[mitochondreia]

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hello everyone, i want to pursue veterinary research as a career. i decided against being a practitioner because of the mental health risks. i love animals, and ive always been into the sciences and saw myself doing research. i realized there are many careers in the veterinary field that isnt just clinical work. so, i decided veterinary research is the career for me. i’m about to enter my first year of college as a biochemistry major. i am unsure if i should go for a DVM, PhD, or both. i think i will apply to both DVM and PhD programs and see where it takes me, but i want more insight. what do each of the degrees entail for research? i also heard about residencies, what is that?

i learned that a DVM is needed for clinical research and a PhD alone is more appropriate for non clinical research. however, i also learned that DVMs without PhDs can also get research done.

while we’re at it, what can i do to increase my chances of getting into vet school? my top choice is UC Davis because it is instate and public, and close to my family. they also have a dual degree program. WesternU is another choice and OSU as well.

thanks everyone for reading!

 

[JaynaAli]

It’s great that you’re thinking ahead about what you want to do in life! But respectfully, I think you’re putting the cart before the horse a little bit here. Definitely keep the enthusiasm and I’m not trying to deter you at all, but at this stage in your college career, I would focus on getting as good of grades in your college courses as you can and see if there’s some research positions at your school to get some actual research experience. For example, my school had a freshman research scholars program where we could be connected to a lab and “get our feet wet” in research to see if it was something that interested us. I learned I hated bench research, lol. There are likely other undergrad research programs as well. I’d pursue some of those things and see if research is actually what you’re envisioning and want to do; it’s no different than us recommending vet clinic experience for applicants who want to enter practice. One step at a time.

As far as what’s needed, that’s really going to depend on what you want to do and what research problems you want to try to solve. You’re correct that you may not even need a DVM to have a career in research. A PhD may be all you need. A DVM may be helpful sometimes, but not necessarily in every instance and it’s not just so simple as clinical needs a DVM. Most of the funding is in issues that are translatable to humans (though that’s probably a oversimplication). You may have a great research career without a DVM. But until you know what you want to research, it’s hard to say exactly what degrees you need.

Residencies are advanced training programs for veterinarians who want to specialize in one certain aspect of medicine, for example cardiology, dermatology, etc. There is often some component of research to residencies, but the primary focus is seeing patients and learning deep details about your chosen niche of vet med. Many specialists, especially those teaching at vet schools, do some research but they also often see patients and teach. But you wouldn’t necessarily have to do a residency in cardiology to do cardiology related research, though sometimes having that clinical knowledge would help.

I would encourage you to keep an open mind about your career path in general. You’re right that being a general practitioner does often come with stress and mental health concerns. But every field has stressors and concerns…funding in research is currently very low, positions are horribly underpaid, and the current political climate isn’t very friendly to actual research. Again, not trying to dissuade you, but it’s not as simple as you’ve painted it. But you’re young, that’s expected. You’ll grow a lot as a person in these few years of college for sure.

Things to do to maximize your changes of getting in to vet schools are get as good of grades as you can, have some extra curricular activities, and get veterinary (and especially in this instance) research experience. And have fun being a college kid with your friends too. It’s harder to “fix” a below average GPA down the line, so if you’re just starting, do as well as you possibly can in your classes.

 

[supershorty]

You're still very, very early in your undergraduate years. It's too early to be thinking about this.

What I would encourage you to do is spend a lot of time shadowing in clinics and getting exposed to research as an undergraduate. Many universities will have some sort of undergrad research program that you can apply for, which may do things like place you in a lab for a semester (or longer), set you up with a mentor in some sort of research capacity, or similar. I think actually *doing* research is often a pretty different experience from what people imagine, and some people get really into it, while others try it out and discover it's not really what they pictured.

Similarly, you need to have hundreds, if not thousands of clinical hours to be a competitive applicant for vet school. If you're already certain that you don't want to practice medicine, I'm not at all sure that a DVM is going to be the right path for you. The good news is that you have lots of time to figure out what you want!

Start by figuring out how you learn best in the college setting so that you have a competitive GPA, get lots of hours in the clinical sphere and in the research sphere, and then reassess and see what you think you want to do. It may be aligned with something you've talked about above, or it may be something completely different. 🙂

 

[supershorty]

Okay fine, @JaynaAli, just say everything I was typing but more eloquently than I did, that's fine 😤

 

[JaynaAli]

@supershorty, must be good advice if we both say the same things at the same time!

 

[mitochondreia]

@JaynaAli @supershorty
thank you very much for the advice! now that you say it, it is very early for me to be thinking about it. the reason is because in high school i thought about everything too LATE, got humbled by college admissions, and now im trying to counteract that by thinking ahead so i can prepare.

i just don’t know how to prepare if i don’t know what i want. i’m scared that the same thing will happen again and i get rejected or waitlisted everywhere i apply. i’ll definitely keep the GPA up though. do you have any advice for this? the part about not knowing, but still being competitive enough? i failed at that during high school and i really really want to learn from that mistake.

 

[JaynaAli]

Find some research options on campus and try things out. Maybe ask your advisor if they know what your university offers or if they know of any opportunities. A great thing about college is there’s lots of stuff available to try. So try things and see if you like it. Then if you don’t like it, you know you can move on to something else.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

hello everyone, i want to pursue veterinary research as a career. i decided against being a practitioner because of the mental health risks. i love animals, and ive always been into the sciences and saw myself doing research. i realized there are many careers in the veterinary field that isnt just clinical work. so, i decided veterinary research is the career for me. i’m about to enter my first year of college as a biochemistry major. i am unsure if i should go for a DVM, PhD, or both. i think i will apply to both DVM and PhD programs and see where it takes me, but i want more insight. what do each of the degrees entail for research? i also heard about residencies, what is that?

i learned that a DVM is needed for clinical research and a PhD alone is more appropriate for non clinical research. however, i also learned that DVMs without PhDs can also get research done.

while we’re at it, what can i do to increase my chances of getting into vet school? my top choice is UC Davis because it is instate and public, and close to my family. they also have a dual degree program. WesternU is another choice and OSU as well.

thanks everyone for reading!

What research experience do you have? How do you know you will enjoy doing research? Academic research as a career also has a LOT of mental health issues.

I think you're developing tunnel vision, as others have said. Get exposure to both clinics as well as the research side, and talk to professionals in each sphere about their careers, how they got there, and the pluses and minuses of each. Especially newer and younger faculty who were hired more recently. Remember that the DVM is a purely clinical degree - if you plan to be 100% research, then that is four expensive years of clinical school that you may not really use, depending on where you end up and what type of research you do. So that is always something to consider.

If you want to do clinical research (and by that I mean veterinary clinical research - researching veterinary conditions for veterinary patients), then yes, I would consider the DVM in addition to a PhD. These research fields are generally smaller and more difficult to fund, although of course can be rewarding and are necessary for the advancement of our field! But they are more of a "labor of love" type of field.

DVMs without PhDs can get some research done - but your grant funding opportunities are much more limited, and therefore your projects will be also. Most non-PhD DVMs who do research do it more as part of their job rather than their entire job (e.g. they are faculty and it is a certain percentage of their appointment).

If you want to do higher level translational work in the biomedical sphere (i.e. research with implications for human medicine, animal models of human disease, etc) I would go pure PhD with a good follow-up postdoc. The DVM is more of an expensive feather in your cap in this arena, rather than something that will truly serve you.

I came into college wanting to be a biochemist. Then I changed my mind to a research veterinarian. I ended up being a pathologist. So things will change - I get the performance anxiety, but also do not limit yourself too early! If you are not into the client-facing/clinical side of veterinary medicine, there are several specialties that you might still enjoy (pathology, radiology, microbiology, lab animal medicine, etc).

 

[PrincessButterCup]

Undergrad is a great time to take things slow, get as much exposure and experience as you can, and build relationships with your peers and professors/mentors. It's great to be already thinking about what career you want to aim for, but always give yourself room to change your mind! I went into undergrad thinking I'd be a vet, but I wound up in the research world instead. I had a lot of lab TA and research experiences in school that helped me identify my interests, and I worked in a small animal clinic that helped me realize I did *not* actually want to stay on that path. It's all a journey and it might have some twists you don't expect.

My advice is to focus on grades first. A good foundation in your science coursework will help you whether you go into vet school, grad school, or some other path. You can read up on the research happening at your university - a lot of professors will have links to their lab website from their university profile, and that's a great place to find details on the research they do. Try to see if anyone is doing any research that really interests you, and then reach out to that professor. They might have summer internships or undergrad lab jobs that you can apply for to gain experience and skills. You can talk to the professors teaching the classes you're most interested in, too, and see if they have any advice or opportunities for you to gain experience. My school had a couple different summer research programs that provided funding for students. Look into what your school offers and take advantage of those opportunities. But don't try to do too much all at once! Start off by getting the hang of classes and start from there. You don't want to overwork yourself and lose time for your grades.

Keep your eyes open, try to figure out what you like, and talk to your professors. You'll have a lot of time to figure out your post-college plan, and there's no rush!