Neuro MD/PhD?

[dutch84]

I want to get an an MD in Neurosurgery and a PhD in Neuroengineering. Any advice for me?

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[Neuronix]

I want to get an an MD in Neurosurgery and a PhD in Neuroengineering. Any advice for me?

First off, you don't get an MD in neurosurgery. An MD is a general degree and then you specialize during residency. You might want to say you want to do residency in neurosurgery. There is also no neuroengineering PhD, but you could say you want to do a PhD in engineering, especially related to the brain.

In any case, that's the same idea I had when I was applying MD/PhD. I sort of did a PhD in brain related engineering, but probably not the way you mean it, and I am not doing residency in neurosurgery.

My advice: keep an open mind. Seriously evaluate what you're getting into and why you're getting an MD/PhD. If you decide this is really what you want, don't tell MD/PhD directors you want to do surgery. Keep in mind that your interests will probably change in the next decade and you probably won't end up doing neurosurgery even if you do go to medical school.

 

[dutch84]

Thanks for your response. I've actually done a little bit of research and found a number of programs that offer a PhD in Neuroengineering. The University of Rochester actually offers an MD/PhD option. I can see how telling directors that I want to do surgery could be detrimental, but do you think that would still be the case if I tell them I want to study neuroprosthetic applications? And if that is still not appealing, what would be a good cover story?

 

[C5toC9]

I have heard that neuro PhD's take the longest to get. Any truth to this?

 

[Neuronix]

I have heard that neuro PhD's take the longest to get. Any truth to this?

No. It's very institution dependent.