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Hi all,
I’m an MD/PhD student who recently finished my PhD (in GI/intestinal immunology) and have returned to clinical rotations. As I explore specialties, I find myself very drawn to IR from a clinical/procedural standpoint.
At the same time, I have a strong interest in pursuing a career as a physician-scientist, ideally running a basic/translational lab with an immunology focus. I’m trying to get a realistic sense of how feasible that path is within IR.
From what I can tell, IR seems less “traditionally” established for R01-funded basic science labs compared to fields like IM subspecialties like cardiology or GI or even some surgical fields such as ENT or ophthalmology. I’d really appreciate insight into:
1. What academic career paths exist for IR physicians who want to do meaningful research (especially beyond purely clinical or device-based work)?
2. Are there IRs who run basic or immunology-focused labs (or close equivalents)?
3. How do people in IR typically structure protected research time and funding?
I’m also trying to think about how to integrate my immunology background into an IR career. Some areas that seem potentially interesting, but I’m not sure how developed they are include radiotheranostics, image-guided immunotherapies, stem cell therapies for vascular biology/immunology.
If anyone has examples of IR physician-scientists (e.g. Ralph Weissleder, Sanjay Misra, Avik Som, etc), labs, or institutions that have IRs conducting basic/translational research or thoughts on whether this path is realistically viable, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you!
I’m an MD/PhD student who recently finished my PhD (in GI/intestinal immunology) and have returned to clinical rotations. As I explore specialties, I find myself very drawn to IR from a clinical/procedural standpoint.
At the same time, I have a strong interest in pursuing a career as a physician-scientist, ideally running a basic/translational lab with an immunology focus. I’m trying to get a realistic sense of how feasible that path is within IR.
From what I can tell, IR seems less “traditionally” established for R01-funded basic science labs compared to fields like IM subspecialties like cardiology or GI or even some surgical fields such as ENT or ophthalmology. I’d really appreciate insight into:
1. What academic career paths exist for IR physicians who want to do meaningful research (especially beyond purely clinical or device-based work)?
2. Are there IRs who run basic or immunology-focused labs (or close equivalents)?
3. How do people in IR typically structure protected research time and funding?
I’m also trying to think about how to integrate my immunology background into an IR career. Some areas that seem potentially interesting, but I’m not sure how developed they are include radiotheranostics, image-guided immunotherapies, stem cell therapies for vascular biology/immunology.
If anyone has examples of IR physician-scientists (e.g. Ralph Weissleder, Sanjay Misra, Avik Som, etc), labs, or institutions that have IRs conducting basic/translational research or thoughts on whether this path is realistically viable, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you!
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