Pathology vs RadOnc

[airpods]

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Would you advise a medical student to go into path or radonc? An interesting discussion, considering radonc's history and its current implosion. Here's a funny conversation I saw on their form:

Going to an Indian wedding. They used to seat me next to ENT Patel and Moh’s Reddy. Now, I’m with Podiatry Patel and Endocrine Reddy. Different vibe for sure.

Nuc med Shah and path Gupta are in the cards for your next table

 

[medgator]

Rad onc still better than path i would guess, as long as you are ok with geographic uncertainty when you graduate when it comes time to look for a job

 

[mike-sheree]

Too much up close and personal with lots of train wrecks in rad onc.

 

[SunBakedTrash]

I would choose path over radonc today, I think path’s future is brighter.

 

[Spikebd]

I would choose path over radonc today, I think path’s future is brighter.

Pathology has a lot of flexibility. You can decide to run a blood bank, or instead sign out IHC’s for a molecular company, or run an academic microbiology lab helping fight pandemics, or go work a small town hospital by yourself, or maybe be a superstar GI path expert, or be a forensic path…so many choices.

I have no insight into rad onc, but would recommend rotating through it if you’re considering that speciality. It does currently seem like that’s a riskier bet than pathology, imo.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Pathology has a lot of flexibility. You can decide to run a blood bank, or instead sign out IHC’s for a molecular company, or run an academic microbiology lab helping fight pandemics, or go work a small town hospital by yourself, or maybe be a superstar GI path expert, or be a forensic path…so many choices.

I have no insight into rad onc, but would recommend rotating through it if you’re considering that speciality. It does currently seem like that’s a riskier bet than pathology, imo.

You can also manage up to 5 labs for a medical directorship fee as well. The income adds up.

I’ve been looking for medical lab directorship opportunities on top of the income I get from my job. From what I hear you just need to put your signature on things and go to the site once in a while (smaller labs).

 

[mike-sheree]

You can also manage up to 5 labs for a medical directorship fee as well. The income adds up.

I’ve been looking for medical lab directorship opportunities on top of the income I get from my job. From what I hear you just need to put your signature on things and go to the site once in a while (smaller labs).

That’s about it. We did a good amount of that.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Choose neither.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Forget medicine. Start businesses and build your empire.

 

[ScubaV]

I would choose path over radonc today, I think path’s future is brighter.

I agree. I'll confess ignorance to specifically how radiation therapy works, but from a 30,000 foot view I would be concerned about radonc's long term viability. As things like immunotherapy and targeted treatments advance, I would think there will be less and less of a role for "just blast it with the death ray lol".

 

[SunBakedTrash]

We should all strive to avoid becoming one trick ponies. Tying my career to a single treatment modality with ever declining reimbursement and clinical indication would make me nervous. Only signing out colon polyps and having to depend on an “intraoperative pathology consultant” to do frozen sections for me would also make me nervous.

 

[caffeinegirl]

What does the RadOnc forum have to say?