IM vs. Med/Peds in Academia (basic science research)

[mercaptovizadeh]

Hi, I am 2nd year med student interested in internal medicine (and pediatrics), who would like to go into academic medicine (basic science research 60-80% of the time). Is med/peds a pathway towards that, or is it too general (like family practice)? Ultimate interest is oncology and/or ID.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[retroviridae]

no, you can certainly do med-peds and be a basic scientist. The problem becomes will you do a med-peds fellowship as well? If you start to add up the time it takes you to do these things, plus get a research career going, you might be 15 years from med school graduation before you get a real job.

I was in a similar position as you when I applied to residencies. In the end, gave up on med-peds and just did IM. But I know plenty of med-peds people doing fellowships in Heme-Onc and ID. You don't have to do both adult and peds fellowships if you don't want to.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

no, you can certainly do med-peds and be a basic scientist. The problem becomes will you do a med-peds fellowship as well? If you start to add up the time it takes you to do these things, plus get a research career going, you might be 15 years from med school graduation before you get a real job.

I was in a similar position as you when I applied to residencies. In the end, gave up on med-peds and just did IM. But I know plenty of med-peds people doing fellowships in Heme-Onc and ID. You don't have to do both adult and peds fellowships if you don't want to.

I see. So I thought fellowships were generic, i.e. that either a pediatrician or an IM could do a heme/onc fellowship, but that the patients he/she saw was determined by the residency, not something intrinsic to the fellowship itself. So, if you did Med/Peds and wanted to treat BOTH adults and children as a heme/onc you would have to do two different fellowships? If that's the case, clearly doing Med/Peds is not for me.