MD/PHD -> Post-doc -> Residency

[kwaldner]

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Hi all,
I'm wondering if it's possible to do a post-doc for 5 years, followed by a residency, instead of the traditional route where one does a residency first and then a post-doc. I have my personal reasons why I have to do the post-doc of 5 years first, and the reasons are pretty solid, but I'm wondering if it will be fine with hospitals when I apply for residency later. My ultimate aim is to do 80% research and 20% clinician. Thanks all for reading this.

 

[QofQuimica]

No, you should absolutely *not* do this. The most competitive residency applicants are always current med school seniors. Someone who took a five year break from clinical practice between med school and residency would be beyond undesirable in the match. Any med school advisor who didn't try their utmost to talk you out of doing such a stupid thing would be incompetent at best...unless they just thought you had no business touching patients at all and wanted to sabotage your chances of ever landing a residency.

 

[Shifty B]

I think this is a bad idea for a variety of reasons. I think it will be difficult to get back into medicine at best. Residencies will question whether you value clinical care at all, and that will limit your ability to get a position. Additionally, some time limits regarding how long your USMLE step scores are valid may cause you to have to retake steps 1/2 and even have difficulty getting a medical license.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that by the end of your 5 year post doc, you should theoretically be transitioning to a more senior position (instructor, assistant professor, etc), and to interrupt that flow to go to a residency is unwise. You'd just be starting again once you finished your residency.

If you plan on ever doing a residency, you should probably do it right after medical school. If you're 95% sure you don't want to do a residency and are asking if you have options should you change your mind, that is the only place I think this really makes sense.

 

[gutonc]

If you ever want to do a residency, this is a bad idea. I know you think you have good reasons for this (I actually thought the same thing at one point during my PhD years), but that's mostly because you don't understand how the residency system works.

Your chance of getting a good residency goes down every year you're out of school and many top programs won't even consider somebody who's 5 years out. Residency PDs are looking for people to train as clinicians. By going straight to post-doc, you've basically told them that you're not interested in being a clinician. You may protest that as untrue, but your actions will speak much louder than any words to the contrary. That's fine, if that's what you want to do with your career, but it's a waste of an MD/PhD. An MD/PhD without residency training is basically a PhD who took 4 extra years to finish.

Best option is to do a research pathway residency (available in many specialties) and get back to the lab ASAP (often in as little as 3 years).

 

[sakata8242]

No, it will NOT be fine. If you're really serious about wanting to do any kind of clinical work, do NOT even think about doing a post-doc right after medical school. Aside from being a waste of time and further opportunity loss, by the time you're at that point in your career it's unlikely any residency program would be interested. This may have been OK about 10 or 15 years ago, to do a post-doc for ONE or TWO years (my PI did), but given how competitive residency spots are now, it would be career suicide to consider doing FIVE years.

I really have to ask - who does a 5 year post doc willingly, anyways? I know that's almost the norm now given the scarcity of tenure track positions, but most PhD only candidates would throw up in their mouths a little if you told them they had to do 5 years of a post-doc before being able to move on. Get into an IM fast-track program or something along those lines instead.