Plastic surgery seems to always be on the cutting edge of medicine. Is it any surprise that the field is becoming attractive to research minded MD and MD/PhD students? Tissue engineering, composite allografts of the hand, face, and abdominal wall, biomaterials in wound closure, etc are really hot topics in plastic surgery and the lay press. With the recent death of Joseph Murray, we are reminded how profound the contributions are to medicine from plastic surgeons.
With that in mind, I want to target this thread toward a certain discussion. Is it just me, or are there a surprising number of MD/PhD applicants applying to plastic surgery residency this year? I met 4 at a couple interviews. Considering that was out of a pool of 30 applicants, this suggests that MD/PhD applicants are over represented in the applicant pool. Are there other MD/PhD applicants who will out themselves? If so, what attracted you to plastic surgery. For myself, it was innovative thinking and the academic nature of the plastic surgeons I worked with at a few different institutions. In particular, some with R01 funded laboratories running alongside their clinical practice.
To summarize, what drew you as a scientist into plastic surgery? This question is targeting MD/PhD applying to PRS this year, but really open to anyone with on-going interest in conducting research in plastic surgery. What research topics got you interested in plastic surgery?
With that in mind, I want to target this thread toward a certain discussion. Is it just me, or are there a surprising number of MD/PhD applicants applying to plastic surgery residency this year? I met 4 at a couple interviews. Considering that was out of a pool of 30 applicants, this suggests that MD/PhD applicants are over represented in the applicant pool. Are there other MD/PhD applicants who will out themselves? If so, what attracted you to plastic surgery. For myself, it was innovative thinking and the academic nature of the plastic surgeons I worked with at a few different institutions. In particular, some with R01 funded laboratories running alongside their clinical practice.
To summarize, what drew you as a scientist into plastic surgery? This question is targeting MD/PhD applying to PRS this year, but really open to anyone with on-going interest in conducting research in plastic surgery. What research topics got you interested in plastic surgery?