MD/ PhD

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Singh

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Dear M.B.B.S. 'ers.

What is the difference between a PhD and an MD after having completed MBBS? As I understand MD is a research degree in england and commonwealth countiries, but so is PhD.

MD's and OD's are also welcome to answer.

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umm...

MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Science) is the european/english system of getting a medical degree so you start around 18 and go to med school for 6 years or so. thus, you don't go to 'college' or 'university'. instead you go to medical school. so an MBBS graduate is around 24 or 25 years old. they go into medical practice.
If you want to get a PhD, then you go to a university first (4 years), then to graduate school (4 or more years) and you get a PhD. This typically means a graduate is more 27 or 28 years old. and they tend to do reseach-related or teaching-related work.


in the US its different. most medical doctors go to a college/university first to get a bachelor's degree, then their medical degree (MD or DO), which is a fixed 4 years of school. then 3 to 8 years of residency. and they take care of patients for the most part. some medical doctors do reseach but they are very few. for the vast majority of them they end up doing patient care. the reasons for this are plenty. some of them being higher pay to do patient care, lifestyle, working with people and not having to write grants.

to get a PhD, you also go to college/university to get a bachelor's degree, then to graduate school which averages about 7 years. then anywhere from 2 to 10 years of postdoctoral training. and most people who have PhD do reseach or teach. some go to work for drug companies.

bottome line:
PhD = academic degree, therefore you are a specialist of something, you're trained to write, conduct experiments and do research. no training in patient care.

MD or DO = professional degree, you're trained to treat patients, no training in research

Hope that helps someone. anyone feel free to add to this.
 
if you have an MBBS, you can take the license exam in the US and practice medicine. if you want to do research you don't necessarily need a PhD but it helps. in the US most basic science (hard core science, no patient contact) are done by PhD. a few MDs do it, but medical school doesn't really give you the training to do research. MDs for the most part do clinical research (more social science) and work more with patients. of course there are exceptions to this.




Singh said:
Dear M.B.B.S. 'ers.

What is the difference between a PhD and an MD after having completed MBBS? As I understand MD is a research degree in england and commonwealth countiries, but so is PhD.

MD's and OD's are also welcome to answer.
 
Cool avatar Peehdee...

What Peehdee says is true, but yes an MD is also a research degree in the UK (and other parts of Europe). In the UK, one can practice medicine with an MBBS, which is essentially a bachelors degree in medicine. In order to obtain an MD, they usually do 3 or so more years of research in a particular area beyond the MBBS.

So, you CAN get the Doctor of Medicine (MD) in England, but it is not equivalent to the US version. Historically, a Doctorate of any kind is a research degree, but here in the USA we've kind of taken the liberty of applying MD to someone who has completed medical school. So an MD in the UK is a research degree in medicine, basically equivalent to a PhD in another field.

Hope that explanation helps.

I think there are a number of threads about the differences in degrees between countries in the international forums.
 
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