Private Practice & Research?

[nhazu10]

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Is it possible to do clinical work privately while maintaining a lab, lets say on campus? It seems like most of the MDs usually do the mdph route where they just stick with being involved with the campus and the local hospital and instead of going private practice. I want to still do research later, but at the same time I want to do clinical work (privately preferred, simply put, i don't want $.30 on the dollar).

Thoughts?

 

[familyaerospace]

The neurologist I shadowed was in private practice and had his own lab.

 

[LoveTheRunner]

tuna and peanut butter. oh sorry, i thought we were discussing things that generally have no right belonging together. i guess it works for some people though, if you are good then you'll probably be able to guide your career as you wish. 99.99% chance you will end up working with another person's lab though (though that's not a bad thing. my goal at least)

 

[tremulousNeedle]

It is definitely possible, but there are lots of reasons to choose an academic medical center.

• academic centers often have more research resources available than a private hospital (i.e. really fast PCR machines as well as more money for research pursuits, plus more).
• academic centers are often more progressive than private hospitals, so study/evaluating new ways of doing things is usually better accepted.
• the academic name is sometimes very important.
• when you work private practice, usually your research time is in addition to your regular clinical work week (unless of course you reach some agreement with your partners, but even then you are likely to take a compensation hit with regards to decreased clinical time). In academia it is often easier to buy out of your clinical time with grant money, and so forth.
• at an academic center it is probably easier to collaborate with other physicians that also have an interest in scholarly activities.

I am sure there are many more reasons; these are just the ones that came to mind.

 

[Lokhtar]

Grant $$$$.

Good luck getting grants for studies at Joe's Specialty Group.

 

[nhazu10]

Was his lab on a school campus or was it private?

The neurologist I shadowed was in private practice and had his own lab.

 

[familyaerospace]

Was his lab on a school campus or was it private?

Private.

 

[familyaerospace]

Grant $$$$.

Good luck getting grants for studies at Joe's Specialty Group.

SBIR grants love MDs.

 

[Law2Doc]

Is it possible to do clinical work privately while maintaining a lab, lets say on campus? It seems like most of the MDs usually do the mdph route where they just stick with being involved with the campus and the local hospital and instead of going private practice. I want to still do research later, but at the same time I want to do clinical work (privately preferred, simply put, i don't want $.30 on the dollar).

Thoughts?

If you want to do both, you really need to be in an academic setting. The couple of folks I know who tried to balance research while in private practice setting soon ended up having to bail on the research because the other partners in the practice didn't share their research enthusiasm, and saw it as a drain on the researcher's hours. When you are working in a group if one person isn't pulling their weight (ie because they are researching), that impacts everyone's bottom line, vacation time, etc. And if you are working alone, you simply won't have time for research. So IMHO, it only really works in academia.

 

[seelee]

Just so you know. You do not need an MD/PhD to do research. In fact, I would argue that it is almost entirely unnecessary. When you graduate, if you still want to do research, do a post-doc, get some publications, and you can do research, and still see patients.

This is anecdotal, but I have yet to meet an MD PhD who is happy with his decision.

 

[familyaerospace]

This is anecdotal, but I have yet to meet an MD PhD who is happy with his decision.

The neurologist I shadowed who had the private lab was an MD/PhD and when I asked him if he would do it again, he said certainly. He did the MD first, then the PhD and said that was really the way to go.

 

[thesauce]

It seems like most of the MDs usually do the mdph route where they just stick with being involved with the campus and the local hospital and instead of going private practice.

??????

 

[seelee]

The neurologist I shadowed who had the private lab was an MD/PhD and when I asked him if he would do it again, he said certainly. He did the MD first, then the PhD and said that was really the way to go.

So there you go.

 

[TTigers70]

SBIR grants love MDs.

Second that. Although acceptance rates have come down a bit recently, still much better than other NIH grants