Physician-Scientists w/o PhD

[laboholic]

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Anyone aspire to be a physician-scientist but not doing an MD PhD (MSTP).
I really love research but im not going for the dual degree. I know there are programs offered by med schools like the summer research programs and the fellowships where you take a year off of med school to do research for a year (Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship). Will these programs along with good GPA give you a good chance to get into clinical research after graduating?? Im not having much luck finding info about this online so I thought I'd ask the students.

Thanks!

 

[OddNath]

From what I understand, a residency that gives you protected research time would be a good stepping block towards a research medicine career. So a year of productive research during med school would be useful when applying to these research-heavy residencies. Although, most people don't seem to take that much time out for research during med school, so you'd probably be fine with research over the summers and during your 4th year. I'm no expert, though.

Or..you could think about applying to MD/PhD programs! Good luck with whichever you choose~

 

[laboholic]

I have looked into MSTP programs but they are just too long for me. Hoping to get into research as an M.D.

 

[xanthines]

If you want to do clinical research, you'll pretty much have to complete a residency. Like oddnath said, a residency with a focus on research would be the best thing. Sometimes it's a combined residency/fellowship. Basically, you'll want to be able to prove to wherever you go that you can do research. That's what fellowships/post-docs are for. You do some research, get a pub or two or three, maybe write a grant and then get a job as asst prof or instructor somewhere. Then you'll have a good chance of getting a K08 (young investigator grant) which will eventually give you a good shot at an R01 or whatever.

That's just one scenario and by no means the only way to become an MD-only physician-scientist. It's the one I'm most familiar with as a basic science dude. You could probably skip the fellowship stage and become prof at some univ and eventually work your way onto a clinical trial. A few of those and a grant-writing workshop might set you on your way, but it's not something I know a lot about.

-X

Anyone aspire to be a physician-scientist but not doing an MD PhD (MSTP).
I really love research but im not going for the dual degree. I know there are programs offered by med schools like the summer research programs and the fellowships where you take a year off of med school to do research for a year (Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship). Will these programs along with good GPA give you a good chance to get into clinical research after graduating?? Im not having much luck finding info about this online so I thought I'd ask the students.

Thanks!

 

[Doctor&Geek]

Careers in clinical research can be served by some of these programs:

HHMI
NIH CRTP
Lerner College of Medicine/CWRU
Any combined 5 year MD/MPH program in clinical research

Check out these two PDFs for more information:

http://www.aamc.org/research/dbr/mdphd/Roberts.pdf (Pitt CRTP)
http://www.aamc.org/research/dbr/mdphd/Fishleder.pdf (Lerner)

Good luck.

 

[Skialta]

I have a friend who is a MD who just got NIH funding this year for basic science related to congenital heart defects, so I know it can be done. I agree you will have to complete a residency and find a good department/mentor. Good Luck.

skialta MSIII