I'm starting an ID fellowship next summer and I was asked at my interview if I am interested in medical micro. Apparently my institution has a fellowship and I was told that people who complete it can "name their salary." Anyone know much about this? How do ID micro people spend their time? Review strange plates/stains? Oversee technologists use of serologies? Does this pay well? I considered pathology very seriously and am interested in clinical research regarding new diagnostics so I could see this possibly being a nice spot for me.
med micro people oversee micro labs whether they are path trained or id trained. their level of day to day involvement varies between institutions. most labs it is a leadership position- meaning they direct the micro lab usually with the significant help from senior techs and supervisors. most at big academic labs are involved in research so the things you mentioned being interested in would fit right in.
i am not sure about name your price but it would seem to be a pretty good life at a decent salary- you would most likely be in academics remember. path folks by in large would take a pay cut if they did just micro at most labs- not so sure about id. i would guess lab directors (with a name) start out around 150-175k depending on where you are but their are only so many directors and you may not start out as a director. but most current directors are aging so maybe it is a good market. but remember anyone with a micro phd can complete a fellowship and also run a micro lab- so they would compete against you (for less money).
all that being said if you enjoyed the lab (and research) more then seeing patients it might be the way. some very big name places have id (med micro trained folks) in charge- hopkins is one but there are others-
hope this helps- i personally think it is a great field but it is difficult to find mds who want to do an extra fellowship for less money- myself included.
Thanks for the info. That sounds about like what I expected. I've already demonstrated my commitment to training without monetary benefit by choosing ID, so we'll see!
