MD/PhD with research focus in psychology/animal behavior?

[starscollidehi]

I am really interested in behavioral research, not biomedical, but noticed most MD/PhD programs cater to the biomedical sciences (or bioengineering, maybe medical ethics/anthropology). My research interests focus on the evolutionary side of behavior, using translational animal models, but also looking at animal welfare from a translational perspective. Is this too far fetched for a combined program? (my clinical interests are in psychiatry)

P.S. I was recently accepted to both a PhD in Animal Behavior (with research focus on psychology), and an MD/PhD with the research component having to be in biomedical sciences (yes, should have looked into it before applied, didn't know what I was doing back then. They want me to stick to biomedical research for logistical reasons, this is not MSTP). What are suggestions moving forward? Starting with PhD and doing MD (maybe at same institute) after too big of a stretch? Too expensive to be worthwhile (in US, even as in-state medical student)? What are your thoughts? Much appreciated 🙂

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[tr]

LSU has a neuroscience center, can you not do your PhD there? Biomedical includes neuroscience which easily intersects with various studies of behavior using animal models if you are interested in that. Studying animal welfare may be harder, a DVM/PhD might suit better there. If you're interested in medical ethics/animal welfare you may find yourself not very pleased with the uses to which animal models are put in the study of neurobehavior.

 

[deleted728364]

Maybe find someone at LSU bmd dept that does neuroscience and establish a collaboration between them and a psych prof (as part of your thesis committee)? While it may not be directly related to your most preferred subject, I feel like getting an MD is far preferable to just a PhD in case a career as an independent investigator doesn't pan out.

kinda sorta related:

 

[FidgetyFibroblast]

Is the restriction related to the departments you can join or your actual research area? If it is just the department - I would look for potential faculty with dual appointments or whose projects skew more closely towards your area of interest even if they are located outside of the developmental biology and psychology departments. It would definitely limit your choices, but it might get you where you want to be.

I wouldn't assume that you can get into an MD program 6 years from now if you decide that you absolutely need the clinical component after your PhD. It is my understanding that the prospects of applicants who have chosen to turn down an offer during a previous cycle are greatly diminished as they reapply. Also remember that your MCAT will expire by that point, so you would have to re-learn everything to make yourself a competitive applicant again. I would think of it this way: which is more likely to set you up for success in the long run? If you decide to do a PhD at UC Davis, you will get robust training in psychology research, but you will never be able to incorporate the clinical component into your work. If you decide to take the MD/PhD, you will be able to re-focus your research interests later on during residency, fellowship, or post-doc. This is obviously assuming that you find another area interesting at least enough to make it through the PhD. I am in the same stage of training as you so take everything I said with a grain of salt.

 

[starscollidehi]

Is the restriction related to the departments you can join or your actual research area? If it is just the department - I would look for potential faculty with dual appointments or whose projects skew more closely towards your area of interest even if they are located outside of the developmental biology and psychology departments. It would definitely limit your choices, but it might get you where you want to be.

I wouldn't assume that you can get into an MD program 6 years from now if you decide that you absolutely need the clinical component after your PhD. It is my understanding that the prospects of applicants who have chosen to turn down an offer during a previous cycle are greatly diminished as they reapply. Also remember that your MCAT will expire by that point, so you would have to re-learn everything to make yourself a competitive applicant again. I would think of it this way: which is more likely to set you up for success in the long run? If you decide to do a PhD at UC Davis, you will get robust training in psychology research, but you will never be able to incorporate the clinical component into your work. If you decide to take the MD/PhD, you will be able to re-focus your research interests later on during residency, fellowship, or post-doc. This is obviously assuming that you find another area interesting at least enough to make it through the PhD. I am in the same stage of training as you so take everything I said with a grain of salt.

What are your research interests may I ask? I am still torn between doing vet med and human med, but I am certain about my PhD direction (spontaneous animal disease models in brain and behavior diseases). I really am not ethically comfortable with doing invasive neuroscience research, which is why I lean towards behavioral work. I ultimately want my work to help both humans and animals (not just humans), so the ethical considerations make me lean away from the MD/PhD...
Is it really shorter to do a combined MD/PhD, residency, and then trying to refocus research interests than a PhD in your interests followed by MD and residency? My difficulty (no one seems to know the answer) is how different does your research for PhD have to be from what you want to do. I really would rather not do a postdoc and additional training after this already long program.

 

[Neuronix]

DVM/PhD

Also, you should decide what you want to do now before embarking on a PhD program.

I agree with LSU here. It makes no sense to have an MD/PhD studying animal diseases unless maybe as a model of human disease.

 

[supershorty]

DVM/PhD programs are extremely poorly funded compared to MSTP programs. OP should not consider a DVM/PhD unless they're willing to take on the debt of a DVM - because while our dual degree programs often have some form of tuition remission, I don't know that there are ANY that are funded the way that MSTP programs are.

OP, do you even have any interest in veterinary medicine? Or any experience?

I agree with the others that it doesn't make sense to have an MD/PhD if you're wanting to study animal diseases - but with limited info, hard to say that a DVM/PhD would be a better move than the PhD alone.