MD/PhD advice - infectious disease

[oh94]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on SDN. I am interested in applying to MD/PhD programs next spring. I am a double major in microbiology and chemistry at a state university. My GPA is 4.0 and I will be taking the MCAT later this month. Over the previous year I have volunteered in the SICU of a major medical center. I have five summers and three years of research experience in two labs, with two co-authored publications (in Biochemistry) and two conference presentations. My primary research interest in college is biochemical study of antibiotic resistance (beta-lactamases, particularly); I have also developed a protein database as a part of a bioinformatics research program. I have very much enjoyed both classes in microbiology and shadowing a pediatric infectious disease specialist at a local hospital. This coming year I am planning to shadow more infectious disease physicians.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice regarding infectious disease career paths as an MSTP student; on SDN I have mostly found advice for ID fellows and microbiology PhD students. Is infectious disease research an uncommon interest among MD/PhD students? Would it be more expedient to pursue MD-only or microbiology (or epidemiology, bioinformatics, or infectious disease) PhD programs? I understand ID is quite different in its career paths 😀

I would generally be interested in either antibiotic resistance research (either enzymology or some sort of genetics/epidemiological study) or molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis (e.g., quorum sensing, biofilm formation, and T3SS action of Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Epidemiology or bioinformatics-related projects would also be interesting.

Thanks!

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[URHere]

I earned my PhD in a parasitology field related to drug design, mechanism of action, and resistance. Personally, I think ID is a fantastic field for an MD/PhD student - much of the basic biology research relates directly to patient care (especially in the drug discovery fields) and the MD opens up several research avenues (including international epidemiology and clinical trial work) that may not be as available to a PhD-only scientist.

Some general advice:

1) When you are considering schools, look at all avenues of research available at each potential institution. Is there an established global health or public health program? Are faculty involved with clinical trials? How many researchers work internationally each year? You may not choose to take advantage of all of these opportunities, but it is nice to have them in place if you want them. I am currently trying to maneuver myself into a short-term position with a Phase II clinical trial in Africa, but because these projects aren't run by anyone through my school, I am dealing with a substantial amount of red tape. You can avoid some of this if your school is well-connected. When it comes to ID research and ties to powerhouse public health or clinical research institutions, I would strongly consider UCSF, UWashington, Harvard, Hopkins, and Emory, just to name a few. If you score well on the MCAT, you will be competitive for those programs.

2) If you pursue ID research, try to develop a unique skill set. I am one of the only MD/PhD scientists I know with extensive experience in medicinal chemistry, enzyme-level biology, and animal work - being able to communicate/translate between those fields has been a tremendous advantage for me. If you can develop a similar niche, you will be amazed how broad your research options become, and you'll never have trouble finding collaborators when you want them.

3) Network early and often. Most people in the ID research community (at least in the parasitology field) are incredibly enthusiastic and eager to mentor young scientists. There are also MANY research camps and conference courses in the ID field. I would highly recommend taking advantage of them.

I'm sure I probably have other advice buried in my head somewhere, but those are the big points. Feel free to PM if you have questions or want to talk about any of this.

 

[oh94]

Thanks for the information, URHere! That was very helpful.

I haven't had much experience with parasitology or immunology 😀 . I'll learn more next year when I take immunology and medical mycology (well, not quite parasitology, hehe).

As far as schools, I'm interested in CWRU, Michigan, Wisconsin, WUSTL, U. of Cincinnati, Pitt/CMU, and Emory, among others. I know Michigan, Pitt, Case, and Emory are strong in public health (a helpful quality you mentioned). I know that these schools (especially Michigan, WUSTL, and Wisconsin) are strong in microbiology/microbial pathogenesis type research. I'll look into the other types of research (clinical trials and global health and such).

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Concur that ID is a fantastic field for research. You can have many different fruitful angles to the field: pharmacology, drug design, medicinal and synthetic chemistry, immunology, vaccine design, microbiology, materials science, biofilms, etc. The culture of medical ID is very amenable to research. You can approach the field from any number of specialties outside of adult medical ID. You can do pediatric ID. You can do peri-operative infections from a surgical ID or even anesthesia/critical care (e.g. sepsis) perspective.

 

[moose4life]

Concur that ID is a fantastic field for research. You can have many different fruitful angles to the field: pharmacology, drug design, medicinal and synthetic chemistry, immunology, vaccine design, microbiology, materials science, biofilms, etc. The culture of medical ID is very amenable to research. You can approach the field from any number of specialties outside of adult medical ID. You can do pediatric ID. You can do peri-operative infections from a surgical ID or even anesthesia/critical care (e.g. sepsis) perspective.

Would a more limited approach to ID make it harder to find a job? I wouldn't think there is much of a demand for doctors specializing in sepsis or critical in even large urban environments. That is what I think about when I consider a MD/PhD, since I want to specialize in ID and focus on vaccine development/treatments for bacterial infections.

 

[SwissMs]

I'm curious, URhere--what kind of research camps were you thinking of? I love infectious disease and would be super excited to get into research again (moved after my master's degree and have been project less for a few months now. 🙁 )

 

[URHere]

I'm curious, URhere--what kind of research camps were you thinking of? I love infectious disease and would be super excited to get into research again (moved after my master's degree and have been project less for a few months now. 🙁 )

Most of the things I have experience with are parasitology-related. The Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole has a summer Biology of Parasitism (BOP) course where students start the morning with interactive research talks then then spend the afternoon learning new lab techniques and running experiments to drive home those skills. The hours are long (you stay until the experiments are done at night), but it's a wonderful community and the students come from all over the world. Other programs pop-up on a year-to-year basis, so it's worth doing a good google search occasionally - I went to Brazil for a week-long camp sponsored by the university of São Paulo a few years back.

Many conferences in the field also have optional 1-3 day lecture/educational "pre-meeting" sessions focused on either clinical ID or basic biology techniques. The clinical sessions are geared mainly towards practicing ID doctors as part of their continuing education curriculum, but you meet some very intriguing people there, and I've attended many of those sessions at ASTMH. If you're looking for more direct/ready-made networking opportunities, any of the Gordon conferences are a good place to start - they have pre-meeting conferences intended specifically for students and young scientists, and will help you with presentation skills and general networking. Hope that helps!