Life After an M.D./Ph.D.?

[mc495]

Hi all,

So my family and friends keep asking me about whatever happens after I've finished both degrees (I'll be participating in URochester's MSTP Program starting this Fall)... Truth is, I never know what to answer. I'd like to have my own lab someday, and to have the opportunity to work in the clinical setting as well from time to time. What sort of training (post med/grad school) is required to achieve this? Do I first go through residency, then a post-doc?

Thanks!

-Melisa

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[Vader]

Hi all,

So my family and friends keep asking me about whatever happens after I've finished both degrees (I'll be participating in URochester's MSTP Program starting this Fall)... Truth is, I never know what to answer. I'd like to have my own lab someday, and to have the opportunity to work in the clinical setting as well from time to time. What sort of training (post med/grad school) is required to achieve this? Do I first go through residency, then a post-doc?

Thanks!

-Melisa

Yes, that is the standard pathway for MD/PhDs interested in running their own lab and having some clinical practice.

Some are able to shortcut this in various ways. For example, fast tracking through residency (medicine and peds allow this) cuts off a clinical year that you instead spend doing research in a postdoctoral fellowship.

To be honest, the post-MD/PhD training pathway is not very well streamlined and is cause for concern among many involved in physician-scientist training. MD/PhDs typically apply for their first academic appointment (i.e. assistant professor) during their mid thirties! Much of this has to do with residency program requirements and the focus on producing competent physicians. But it also has to do with the overall increasing length of postdoctoral fellowships. Combined, this adds up to many postgraduate years that yields highly trained, yet gray-haired physician-scientists.