PhD to MD with Advanced Standing?

[TheBigCat]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Today while meeting with my PI, a PhD who is an associate professor at a top-tier medical school, he was telling me about how he would only need to complete about one and a half years of medical school to get his M.D. and asked me for advice on who to contact at my school so he could begin to inquire about enter medical school. I tried to tell him that this probably would not be allowed, given that he has never been enrolled in a medical school, but he seemed to think that his PhD coursework (which he finished over 10 years ago) as well as his vast experience as a biomedical researcher would qualify him to skip most of medical school.

I seriously doubt any medical school would allow him to do this, but does anybody know the exact rules? Could someone who has their PhD enter medical school with advanced standing to this extent? I’m asking because I’d hate to put him in contact with my school’s administration and end up looking like an idiot.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JPdrain1]

I like how you vaguely wrote "top tier medical school" but your signature gave away that you are at Tufts. Very sly.

I would also think it is doubtful, but you never know. I mean, how is it that famous people can get an honorary degree without ever setting foot in a classroom?

If I were you, I'd give your PI the link to your medical school's admissions office website and be done with it. All information and contacts he needs should be listed there for him. Let him pursue this thing on his own and that way you've helped point him in the right direction without getting involved directly.

 

[StIGMA]

You have no role in evaluating his ability to enter medical school. Give him the name of the dean of admissions and be done with it.

Of course he won't be allowed to skip most of medical school, which has a vast amount of material he has not seen, clinical preparatory experiences he has not experienced, and the foundation for clinical reasoning that he has not formed.

I would stay on the non-confrontational side of things and let the actual school tell him this.

To JPdrain1: you can do research outside of your university. Tufts is not the only medical school in Boston, if you hadn't figured that out by now.

 

[TheBigCat]

I like how you vaguely wrote "top tier medical school" but your signature gave away that you are at Tufts. Very sly.

I would also think it is doubtful, but you never know. I mean, how is it that famous people can get an honorary degree without ever setting foot in a classroom?

If I were you, I'd give your PI the link to your medical school's admissions office website and be done with it. All information and contacts he needs should be listed there for him. Let him pursue this thing on his own and that way you've helped point him in the right direction without getting involved directly.

I'm not doing research at Tufts (which I don't consider to be a top-tier school).

 

[JPdrain1]

you can do research outside of your university. Tufts is not the only medical school in Boston, if you hadn't figured that out by now.

I'm not doing research at Tufts (which I don't consider to be a top-tier school).

I made a stupid assumption. Sorry about that!

 

[Shifty B]

I've never heard of anything like that happening. It's ludicrous because I can't think of any medical school that would allow it. To do it would be tantamount to admitting that the first 2 years of medical school aren't needed.

I think my medical school may have had several people that had PhDs prior to entry. They took the whole 4 years.

 

[gbwillner]

I find this whole thing laughable.

1. Even if your PI *could* skip 2.5 years of medical school, why would he want to? He would have to give up his lab for at least 1.5 years to do clinics (and subject himself to the abuse of medical school life). Then what? He would have to do residency. Even in his good standing with the university, if he were admitted to the residency of his choice at his home institution, it would be extremely difficult to manage his lab and complete his residency. Then what? He'll probably want a job where he has minimal clinical responsibilites so he can focus on research.... kinda like he has now.
2. It's possible he dislikes being a PI and wants to quit for a new career. If this is so, I find you involvement in his lab problematic.
3. It's possible the medical school will make allowances for the PhD in basic sciences. However, it is not likely he can skip out on all coursework- liike behavioral sciences, pharmacology, ID, etc.

Weird.

 

[QofQuimica]

I am a PhD-to-MD, and there are currently no accredited American medical schools that allow PhDs to skip the basic science years of medical school. This used to be a possibility (U Miami in FL was one of the schools that allowed it), but the LCME was not fond of this idea, and they got rid of that program like ten years ago now. You can tell your boss that if he wants to be an MD, he'll start out as a freshman just like you did, just like I did, and just like every other person who wants an MD does. Sorry.