Pharmacology in Medicine, as a career path

[DrMetal]

Hello,

I noticed that quite a few Medicine Departments have divisions of 'Clinical Pharmacology', 'Clinical Trials', 'Medical Toxicity', and so forth.

Is there formal training (analogous to IM supspecs, 1-3 yr fellowships perhaps???) for MDs that are interested in pharmacology, particularly in the design, execution, and reporting of clinical trials?

Thanks,

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[JoyfulMD]

Hello,

I noticed that quite a few Medicine Departments have divisions of 'Clinical Pharmacology', 'Clinical Trials', 'Medical Toxicity', and so forth.

Is there formal training (analogous to IM supspecs, 1-3 yr fellowships perhaps???) for MDs that are interested in pharmacology, particularly in the design, execution, and reporting of clinical trials?

Thanks,

http://www.abcp.net/

 

[RxnMan]

Many pharmaceutical companies offer drug development and testing post-docs for MDs.

 

[dragonfly99]

There are clinical pharmacology fellowships, but these are not a formal subspecialty of internal medicine (i.e. there is no real clinical "boards" to take and it isn't an officially recognized clinical fellowship). A lot of the clinical pharmacology fellowships offered at academic medical centers are more of a postdoc, where you'll end up doing basic science research, but it may depend on which institution you do a fellowship at. I tend to agree w/above...if you want to work in the private sector, then it might be better to get a job or postdoc in a pharmaceutical company. Also, if you want to do clinical research, possibly in an academic setting, then it may be better to get a master's degree in clinical investigation (MSCI), or an MPH (depending on the thrust/bent of the MPH or MSCI program @your academic medical centers in your area).

If you want to do more toxicology stuff (clinical stuff with overdose or poisonings, etc.) then it's usually better to do an ER residency plus toxicology fellowship (although I think some toxicology fellowships take IM or pediatric trained people too...not sure).

 

[.edu-MD]

If you want to do more toxicology stuff (clinical stuff with overdose or poisonings, etc.) then it's usually better to do an ER residency plus toxicology fellowship (although I think some toxicology fellowships take IM or pediatric trained people too...not sure).

Medical Toxicology is jointly sponsored by ABEM, ABP, and ABPM (EM, Peds, and Preventive Med), although ABEM administers the exam from what I've read. Many Tox programs state they will take an IM grad as well, for which you can use ABEM as the sponsoring board.

 

[JoyfulMD]

There are clinical pharmacology fellowships, but these are not a formal subspecialty of internal medicine (i.e. there is no real clinical "boards" to take and it isn't an officially recognized clinical fellowship).

Actually, the clinical pharmacology boards are quite real. 🙂 You need to study for them, and they have whole credentialing process and a nice exam for you. It's not a sub-specialty of internal medicine, but if you want to work as a clinical pharmacologist, board certification is the recognized way to prove you know what you are talking about. I agree that the fellowships are not that popular, and they have a post-doc flavor to them. The physicians that end up doing them usually have at least one year of post-medical school experience in internal medicine, peds, or psychiatry.

 

[Frugal Traveler]

From my tour of places, I think Vanderbilt has a great department for this:

http://medicine.mc.vanderbilt.edu/Templates/TemplateDivision.aspx?qs=cElEPTcwOA==

It looks some of the fellows are MD.

I think it would be an interesting field.