Neuro-focused PhD program

[Julie S]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys!
I am approaching my second year as a DPT student and am thinking ahead to the future. I believe that the best option for me career wise would be to pursue a PhD fairly soon after I graduate (hopefully starting within a year, year and a half) so that I have time to get some important work career-wise before I start raising a family. I'm also fairly sure that neuro is my calling. My question for you is: if you want to work in the neuro field and get a PhD so that you can do research/teach, is it better to get a PhD is rehabilitation sciences or pursue a PhD in neuroscience? My apprehension about the rehab science PhD is that it might be difficult to find something specific to neuro and for neuroscience my issue is that I pretty much detest working in a lab 🙂. Any input would be super helpful. Thanks guys!
Julie

 

[Fiveoboy11]

Hey guys!
I am approaching my second year as a DPT student and am thinking ahead to the future. I believe that the best option for me career wise would be to pursue a PhD fairly soon after I graduate (hopefully starting within a year, year and a half) so that I have time to get some important work career-wise before I start raising a family. I'm also fairly sure that neuro is my calling. My question for you is: if you want to work in the neuro field and get a PhD so that you can do research/teach, is it better to get a PhD is rehabilitation sciences or pursue a PhD in neuroscience? My apprehension about the rehab science PhD is that it might be difficult to find something specific to neuro and for neuroscience my issue is that I pretty much detest working in a lab 🙂. Any input would be super helpful. Thanks guys!
Julie

Perhaps getting involved with a university that has a residency in neurological PT AND a PhD relevant to physical therapy. Here's some examples:

Texas Womans (dallas, or houston)
http://www.twu.edu/physical-therapy/physical-therapy-phd.asp
http://www.twu.edu/physical-therapy/residencies-physical-therapy.asp

Marquette University, WI
http://www.marquette.edu/physical-therapy/inprptexsc.php
http://www.marquette.edu/physical-therapy/neuroresidency.shtml

Ohio State
http://medicine.osu.edu/hrs/phd/abo...on-requirements-and-criteria/pages/index.aspx
http://medicine.osu.edu/hrs/pt/resi...-neurologic-physical-therapy/pages/index.aspx

University of Washington
http://rehab.washington.edu/education/degree/rehabsci/
http://rehab.washington.edu/education/degree/ptres/

 

[paulrc]

I know this is to late for you but the University of Vermont offers a physical therapy and neuroscience DPT/PHD program. They offer it together which seems pretty demanding.

 

[ptisfun2]

neuroscience 100%. It will may you much more marketable for post-docs and faculty jobs.

 

[Julie S]

neuroscience 100%. It will may you much more marketable for post-docs and faculty jobs.

The issue with getting a neuroscience phd is that I don't want to spend time in a lab. Research is interesting to me but I want it to be clinical/translational/PT-related. I think its important to understand the cellular/molecular aspect of this but its definitely not where I want to spend all my time. I would also like the opportunity to do some clinical work while in the process. I can't imagine spending 5 years in that type of PhD program and being happy. Thanks for your advice though. I think movement science might be a better option? Rehab science seems a bit too general.

 

[Outdoors]

My favorite prof at UBC was a MPT then decided he hated his career choice, went back to school got a PHD in Neuro and now does really cool work with muscle recruitment in cats(including hyperplasia studies). He still has his PT license but he now teaches, does active published research, and treats on his spare time.

Just know it takes quite a bit of time and debt to get a dual post grad degree

 

[Fiveoboy11]

The issue with getting a neuroscience phd is that I don't want to spend time in a lab. Research is interesting to me but I want it to be clinical/translational/PT-related. I think its important to understand the cellular/molecular aspect of this but its definitely not where I want to spend all my time. I would also like the opportunity to do some clinical work while in the process. I can't imagine spending 5 years in that type of PhD program and being happy. Thanks for your advice though. I think movement science might be a better option? Rehab science seems a bit too general.

The university of delaware might be a good fit. They have a PhD in movement science and biomechanics as well as a neuro clinic and a neuro PT residency in conjunction with johns hopkins university.

http://www.udel.edu/PT/

 

[Julie S]

Also, would it be possible to teach at a university sooner rather than later if I did a residency and had an NCS? I realize that I wouldn't be quite as marketable but I think that if I had the NCS and was working towards a PhD while working at university (I've noticed quite a few of our professors are doing this) that would work. Alternatively, I may be able to spend part time practicing and part time faculty with the NCS. I would rather have the PhD but also would rather not be a student forever! I'm 25 now, will be 26 when I graduate, want to practice for at least a year or two to get the experience and will want kids in the 31-35 range.

I just don't see myself being happy as a full time clinician and doing something else. Despite the fact that every patient is different and some parts of the day are exciting it seems somewhat monotamous (sp) to me. Granted, I haven't done a neuro clinical yet (I'm currently on my orthopedic rotation) but I want to stay involved in what's current and hopefully in research.

 

[ptisfun2]

Sure, whatever works for you. I just had a conversation with a recent graduate about PhD. Some of the things I shared with him:
1. Work clinically for a bit before going into a PhD program. Your brain works differently, and it will benefit you markedly.
2. Any PhD program that is not full time, on campus (not online or weekend only) will require you to work MUCH HARDER to get a similar, but not exact experience. PhD should prepare you to be an independent researcher, and that requires a lot of mentoring that is best done in person on a regular basis.
3. The average time to completion for a PhD is 3-6 years of full time work, so make sure you are committed. Otherwise it will suck the life right out of you 🙂 The timeline varies of course, but my mentor told me when I started 2 years of coursework, and 2 years of dissertation is a good rule of thumb. With mentored research going throughout from first day.
4. Speak with current and graduates of any PhD program to make sure it will give you what you want.
5. Research your potential PhD mentors and work they are doing, and how well it fits into your proposed research. That will make things go MUCH smoother. I saw so many friends struggle when their research was incongruent with their mentors. (this is probably my biggest one, except...)
6. Do NOT pay for your PhD. You should secure funding on your own, or have funding from your mentor, or TA as a last resort. I have recently heard about people paying tuition for their PhD (I think it has to do with the explosion of online or work full time 'PhDs'). Do not do it....take loans out to live if you need to, but paying for tuition should be a thing of your past.

I did not do a residency, so I cannot comment on that. But I have a bunch of graduates from entry-level who have done them. Like everything, some good experiences, some not such good experiences.

For jobs, I can only speak for my University. Without a PhD, you are non tenure-track faculty. That means less job protection, lower pay, and less ability to advance within the University system. We have a few non-PhD faculty...they teach more, have lower research expectations (but per CAPTE, still have them). PhD trained faculty are tenure track and then after 6 years (hopefully) tenured. Non tenure track (basically teaching with a DPT and NCS for example or an EdD or ScD) does not seem like a bad way to go normally, but a few years ago, when the economy was so bad, our non-PhD faculty were possibilities to be laid off. PhD (tenure track) were not. Each University has a slightly different structure, but for a standard University, we are pretty average. Let me say I interviewed for a faculty position at 7 Universities, and this was the process at all.

This is probably way more than you want to know, but I hope there is a pearl or 2 you can get out of it.