NIH Residency?

[Endoxifen]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering how residency programs at the NIH Clinical Center are generally perceived. I know this is likely to vary between specialties, but given the Clinical Center only sees patients participating in NIH studies, I can imagine there being a concern about the generalizability of the training during residency (likely not during fellowship though).

Thank you all very much for your help!

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[mistafab]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering how residency programs at the NIH Clinical Center are generally perceived. I know this is likely to vary between specialties, but given the Clinical Center only sees patients participating in NIH studies, I can imagine there being a concern about the generalizability of the training during residency (likely not during fellowship though).

Thank you all very much for your help!

Going to be hard to give specific advice without knowing which specialty you are considering.

Overall, NIH and other absolute top of the line research-oriented facilities that have a wide breadth of fellowships tend to be better for fellows than for residents (like mayo).

This is not necessarily true everywhere, but it can definitely be an issue for residency. You want the least amount of resident-fellow competition for cases.

 

[Endoxifen]

Going to be hard to give specific advice without knowing which specialty you are considering.

Overall, NIH and other absolute top of the line research-oriented facilities that have a wide breadth of fellowships tend to be better for fellows than for residents (like mayo).

This is not necessarily true everywhere, but it can definitely be an issue for residency. You want the least amount of resident-fellow competition for cases.

Thanks so much for your response. I'm leaning towards either oncology or pathology, though it's still a bit early for me to decide. I'm sure the heme/onc fellowship at the NIH would be great, but that's much further down the road. There is an anatomical pathology residency at the NIH that I find appealing. However, I could ultimately decide to do something different.

I worked at the NIH for a number of years and would ultimately like to return there for my career. That said, I want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success, so if it makes more sense to return during my fellowship, I will.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Mace1370]

Thanks so much for your response. I'm leaning towards either oncology or pathology, though it's still a bit early for me to decide. I'm sure the heme/onc fellowship at the NIH would be great, but that's much further down the road. There is an anatomical pathology residency at the NIH that I find appealing. However, I could ultimately decide to do something different.

I worked at the NIH for a number of years and would ultimately like to return there for my career. That said, I want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success, so if it makes more sense to return during my fellowship, I will.

Thanks again for your advice!

I would stay away from the NIH pathology residency program. I met many residents from there and what they had to say did not sound good. You spend a lot of your time grossing, which has minimal educational value past a certain point. More importantly, the type of specimens you see is linked to whatever research protocols are happening at that time. This means you may not see many common (or uncommon) specimen types you will encounter as a practicing pathologist.

 

[GadRads]

Small clinical center. Low volumes. Not the best for clinical training.