Anyone know what the job market is in the molecular/clinical pathology subfield, essentially running hospital clinical laboratory? I heard these jobs are relatively easy to come by, but many hospitals have PhD's running their labs. On the other hand, I've heard that pathologists are the ones overseeing the quality of the lab. Of course, the next question would be what the pay range is for these folks. Again, I've heard that it is very reasonable but without the possibilty of "topping out" like those in private AP practice. Please discuss!!!
Molecular/clinical pathology job market
- Thread starter E.A. Poe
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I'd like to know as well. How about opening up your own molecular lab? Are you doomed to fail, considering all these larger biopharm companies (with much more capital) getting in on the action?
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I'm also curious. Some of the attendings at my program are saying it would be foolish not to get in on the molecular fellowships...
Apparently there are some billing codes for "interpretation of test results" that aren't available to doctorate folks running labs.
Apparently there are some billing codes for "interpretation of test results" that aren't available to doctorate folks running labs.
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you don't say? i'm also highly interested in the molecular action . . . i've been trying to dig p some info, but not really sure where to look. i went to the association for molecular pathology website yesterday and read their newsletters. i was surprised to see such a representation by PhD's. anyway, i didn't get much out of it . . . molecular - anything molecular - is entirely the domain of path. getting in on that racket seems like a good idea
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not many and I dont see that changing. The issue at hand is the very nature of the industry. The cost allocation for a mol lab precludes anything but large corporate entities from opening a ref lab. Therefore, at best you will be a minority shareholder with low end dividends since you lack capital.
CAVEAT: IF you are independantly wealthy, with around 100 million USDs in a trust account then starting a mol regional ref lab might be very viable option.
PM me if you do indeed have that 100 million handy.
PS- I would take anything said by a salaried academic attending about making money/biz with a 25lb bag of salt. It is akin to your permenantly single buddy living in his mom's basement playing computer games 24-7 giving you dating advice...
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You don't really need a molecular fellowship to do any of this stuff, by the way (just like you don't need a hemepath fellowship to signout hemepath, or a GI fellowship to sign out GI). That will simply give you more expertise and more credibility, particularly if you plan on doing lots of molecular path. But in truth a lot of these tests are fairly automated, and most of the important ones are proprietary so your lab will not make tons of money off of them. That's my view anyway, correct me if I'm wrong.
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What about things like assay development, industry type stuff? Seems there would be reasonable need (and therefore reasonable pay) for someone with this expertise...
But I agree that you don't necessarily need a fellowship to follow that path.
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Well yeah, but unless you have your own funding source you are going to have to be working for someone who will bankroll this. Why would industry, for example, hire a pathologist when they could hire a PhD who focuses in molecular assay design for a lot less? Pathologists' jobs in molecular labs are often administrative, quality control kind of things. Assay design and technical stuff is generally left to techs and lab PhD directors. There are variations though.
If you are asking about whether if you are an acknowledged expert on molecular pathology and assay design and management, if then you would have lots of job opportunities, then yes you would. But you don't get that by just doing a molecular fellowship.
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Not sure in what specific capacity a pathologist would be hired by big drug companies, but I know they pay astronomical amounts of money for procured tissue to do gene studies, et al...you'd have to sell your soul, of course, but the cash they throw around for molecular & genomic research is ridiculous.
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I think lots of times though most of this money (for procurement purposes) would go to the department in general, not to a specific individual. Although it certainly could be considered as part of a grant. It's more like they are paying the hospital for the tissue access, not the pathologist. I don't own the tissue on the biopsies I read out, for example, and it would be highly unethical for me to put through extra tissue and sell off these extra tissue blocks for my own benefit.
I think the important lesson to learn for everyone in regards to making money is that if there are easy ways to do it, people will already be doing that well and exploiting any loopholes that exist. No one is going to throw money at you for not doing anything that someone else will do for cheaper, unless of course you bring something significant to the table - like specific credentials or reputation.
How about being a PI in path? 1/3-1/2 time signing out slides, the other time performing basic research. I'm concerned about paying off my $250K in student loans. Can this be done -- what are the salaries in academics in this type of work?
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ditto this...anyone have any input on how feasible this is or if possible to do private and research? thanks
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Expect a starting salary of ~100-120k, if you are a successful PI you will be promoted fairly rapidly at many places unless they are selected ivory towers. But promotion is unlikely to get you much beyond $200-250k per year unless you are a superstar. Benefits are better, usually no malpractice, things like that. Many people flee academic after 5-10 years after having established good credentials and work in their subspecialty somewhere else for bigger $$.
not many and I dont see that changing. The issue at hand is the very nature of the industry. The cost allocation for a mol lab precludes anything but large corporate entities from opening a ref lab. Therefore, at best you will be a minority shareholder with low end dividends since you lack capital.
CAVEAT: IF you are independantly wealthy, with around 100 million USDs in a trust account then starting a mol regional ref lab might be very viable option.
PM me if you do indeed have that 100 million handy.
PS- I would take anything said by a salaried academic attending about making money/biz with a 25lb bag of salt. It is akin to your permenantly single buddy living in his mom's basement playing computer games 24-7 giving you dating advice...
Then how do you explain someone like Bostwick who started his own megalab? I'm sure he didn't have 100 million in his account, just the reputation.
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Reputation + lining up business is a start. Then you get other people to partner with you and back your venture, for a share of future profits. Venture capitalists are not going to back someone without similar prospects.
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Another option to keep in mind if you will be working as a principal investigator is the NIH loan repayment program.
http://www.lrp.nih.gov/brochure.pdf
NIH will repay up to $35,000.00 a year of your student loans, and will also pay the state and federal taxes on the 35K (because repaying the loans is the equivalent of salary so you must pay taxes on this). There is a maximum amount that they will repay. The loan repayment program was specifically designed to encourage more physicians to enter academic medicine.
Dan Remick
Chair, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
