Industry, Academia, or Government - Where will you use your MD/PhD?

[pathdr2b]

After being a government scientist for a year and thinking BEFOREHAND I would "stay forever" I have to admit that I may have to rethink this (I know this is all very premature, but fun to contemplate anyway). I 've worked in academia and privarte industry and things now seem to be boiling down to a "lesser of 3 evils" proposition.

As I see it the negatives:
Government: Too much red tape, no opportunity (that I can see) to patent anything, Freedom of Info Act where I have personally observed scientists' being "forced" to give up research results., OK compensation. Tenure for a woman with family, no need to comment.

Industry: Glass ceiling, good ol boy network, who you know/whose butt you kiss gets you farther than talent.

Academia: Applying for grants, applying for grants, applying for grants. Also a good ol boy network, with 23 hours days required to have 5 publications a year and tenure in 6 years.

Maybe I'm just in a pessimistic mood thanks to the Physics section of the MCAT, but I went into this process thinking I would "save the world".Now I may have to be happy with "saving myself"

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[DarkChild]

i'm going to take my free MD and my PhD down to wall street...
pros: you get to boss people around and have a really foul mouth around the office; you get paid like crazy; you get wined and dined...
cons: your friends might call you a sellout... but you'll get even when you have your chauffer give them a ride to the hospital on your way to your next business meeting in the company S600, while offhandedly telling them that the bentley is in the shop...

dreams of being an MD/PhD baller

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by DarkChild
i'm going to take my free MD and my PhD down to wall street...
pros: you get to boss people around and have a really foul mouth around the office; you get paid like crazy; you get wined and dined...

I have to admit that after seeing all three career options first hand, if you have to work your as$ off anyway might as well get paid!

 

[canadagirl]

academia all the way!!!!!!!!!

Sure, the first six years kinda suck. But after that.... sweeeeet. Do whatever research you're interested in, and never worry about losing your job. Take time to investigate interesting problems. Tons of opportunities to teach and work with students. Also tons of service opportunities to sit on committees, change policy, etc. I love all three aspects of a prof's job: research, teaching, service, so that's where I want to be!!!!

[I have to get accepted to a program first, though... ]

 

[Adcadet]

so, the other night after doing my rat gynecology thing at 1 Am I was driving home contemplating what I want to do professionally. I realized that given my desire to do translational research, a job in industry might be in my future. I was discussing this with my fiance, who reminded me that it's not always an all-or-nothing thing. I can spend the first 20 years of my career in academia and then perhaps go part-time in industry or something. Does anybody have experience or know about this?

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Adcadet
so, the other night after doing my rat gynecology thing at 1 Am I was driving home contemplating what I want to do professionally. I realized that given my desire to do translational research, a job in industry might be in my future. I was discussing this with my fiance, who reminded me that it's not always an all-or-nothing thing. I can spend the first 20 years of my career in academia and then perhaps go part-time in industry or something. Does anybody have experience or know about this?

I've noticed that peole tend to do a fellowship with the government (NIH/NCI ect) after school, go into academia, and then go to industry to the "big bucks". As a matter of fact, all of the big wigs at the company I worked for including the company president (he had an MD only), structured their careers in this exact manner.

 

[surge]

Academia or bust.

You go, canadagirl!

 

[DarkChild]

one of my interviewers at Columbia mentioned that he had worked for a couple years (I imagine about 4) after completing his residency in industry and then returned to academia. he said that there used to be a stigma associated with going in to industry but he's seen that begin to fade over recent years.
having had some industry experience i dont think its a bad compromise at all. its cool for everyone to want to go in to academia now, but i really believe that there are some serious problems with academic research:
1) the money isnt great. kids, mortgages, tuition, car payments... all $$ $ign$.
2) you arent really as free as you'd like to be in choosing your research topics. to the extent that your lab is funded by NIH money, the size of your research budget is primarily determined by government and ultimately political interests (for instance, the recent diversion of funds towards bioterrorism related research).
3) you dont really get to do full blown translational research - that kind of thing is almost exclusively the play ground of industry. think about it - what is your lab compared to multi-billion dollar companies who live and die by their R&D groups? the entire point of their business is to do translational research - and they've made millions doing it.

Originally posted by Adcadet
so, the other night after doing my rat gynecology thing at 1 Am I was driving home contemplating what I want to do professionally. I realized that given my desire to do translational research, a job in industry might be in my future. I was discussing this with my fiance, who reminded me that it's not always an all-or-nothing thing. I can spend the first 20 years of my career in academia and then perhaps go part-time in industry or something. Does anybody have experience or know about this?

 

[canadagirl]

What is "translational research"?

.... profs don't make incredibly money, but they certainly do okay if they manage it right .....

 

[Naphtali]

At an interview, an MD/PhD (faculty) told me that lots of MD/PhDs choose to work in academia but do some part time consulting work for industry.

Sounds good to me.

-Naphtali

 

[surge]

In short, translational research is when you apply basic science knowledge to clinical situations. It's somewhere between bench basic science and bedside clinical stuff.

 

[Habari]

At an interview, an MD/PhD (faculty) told me that lots of MD/PhDs choose to work in academia but do some part time consulting work for industry.

Sounds good to me.

-Naphtali

i heard this quite a bit as well, it sounds like a great idea to me. i have spent some time in industry (3 summers) and while there are definate benefit ($$$$$ come to mind) there are some things that i didn't like as much. the nice thing is that these days, as someone said, people are able to go back and forth without such a stigma. i don't know how much profs in med academia actually end up teaching - i thought it was much more - but thats something i definately want to do. hah - we'll see how much 8 years of pure academia will change my mind ... probably running to wallstreet

-jot (new screenname)

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by Habari
-jot (new screenname)

 

[surge]

Originally posted by Habari
-jot (new screenname)

LOL!
What the hell?


Are you still reading your 'jot-pmail'?

 

[CaNEM]

I think I'll go for academia ... unless the next gazillion years of school and training make me hardened and callous - then greed may overcome me and I'll go for bucks in industry.