Nontraditionals ways to enter RESEARCH

[oncomine]

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hi gang
me: have a masters, been in research for 10+ years, 2 publications in average journals...almost done with med school

interested in: seeing patients and doing some research on the side but dont really want to pony up for an extra 2+ years of oncology fellowship
plus lifestyle is important so I'm leaning toward hospitalist type roles...but would also like my hands in a lab, clinical trial, etc

*Can a hospitalist be involved in research? maybe through a university or through pharma?
*Are there such things as Oncological Hospitalist? or did I make that up?

Thanks for your feedback 🙂

 

[Frugal Traveler]

If you find a place where you can have your cake and eat it too, please let us know. In all my travels, I have found no such place.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

This can certainly be done. It depends on what you mean by "research". if you're talking about lab based "wet bench" research, then it's going to be much more difficult. To get any univ to give you lab space is going to require "research cred" -- a PhD, post doc, and a history of success / publications. Your Masters and a few pubs might or might not do it. Probably not.

If you want to work in someone's lab, that's clearly a possibility. However, you would then have two jobs -- you'd be a hospitalist for part of the time, and then a lab rat for part. No one is going to pay you to work in a lab at a hospitalist's salary. As long as you're willing to deal with the salary decrease, it should work.

If you want to do some other form of research -- i.e. outcomes research, or quality/safety research, or something like that -- then choose a residency program that has experts in this area. If you do some good research in residency, you should be able to negotiate a position with a small amount of protected time, and build from there.

As for Onc hospitalists, it could happen. But, if Onc isn't your true love and you're not going to do a fellowship in it, better to simply be a hospitalist and expand your research horizons.