Question about being a prof at a medical school.

[PsychStudent]

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I'm a first-year clinical psych PhD student in a research-oriented program, and right now I'm pondering what I want to do with my degree. I'd like to have a career that focuses on both research and clinical work, but less so on teaching (especially undergrads; teaching grad students appeals to me more). I'm also much more interested in researching treatment outcomes than etiology. A few people have suggested to me that my best bet is to become a professor at a medical school. . . I'm just wondering how this route compares to becoming a professor in a psychology department. Specifically, how competitive are these positions and what balance do profs generally have between research/teaching/clinical practice? Is there anything specific I should do in grad school to prepare me for such a career? Thanks so much for your help!!

 

[PublicHealth]

I'm a first-year clinical psych student in a research-oriented program at a well-respected school, and right now I'm pondering what I want to do with my degree. I'd like to have a career that focuses on both research and clinical work, but less so on teaching (especially undergrads; teaching grad students appeals to me more). I'm also much more interested in researching treatment than etiology. A few people have suggested to me that my best bet is to become a professor at a medical school. . . I'm just wondering how this route compares to becoming a professor in a psychology department. Specifically, how competitive are these positions and what balance do profs generally have between research/teaching/clinical practice? Is there anything specific I should do in grad school to prepare me for such a career? Thanks so much for your help!!

http://www.apa.org/divisions/div12/sections/section8/

http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec04/employment.html

 

[PsychMode]

Division 12, section 8 of the APA looks good. You might want to think about joining that. In the future I hope that is one of the options open to me, as well.

 

[PsychStudent]

Does anyone have any more info? I'm really interested in this topic. Thanks!

 

[PublicHealth]

Does anyone have any more info? I'm really interested in this topic. Thanks!

Why don't you contact psychologists who are professors in medical schools and ask them about their experiences? I'm sure you could find at least a few who would be happy to give you some insight.

From my limited experience, I can tell you that most of the medical school psychologists (clinical and experimental) with whom I have either worked or conversed are heavily involved in clinical research, occassionally conduct assessments and therapy, and give a few lectures each year to medical and/or dental students. There is an increasing interest in health psychology, so medical and dental schools typically have a few health psychologists around. Larger hospitals also have at least a couple neuropsychologists on staff as well, particularly hospitals with large neurology/psychiatry departments and epilepsy surgery teams. Rehabilitation hospitals also have neuropsychologists on staff. Bottom line: Plenty of options, moderate pay, ample opportunities to conduct research. Developing a specialty niche (e.g., autism, eating disorders) seems to be increasingly critical for psychologists to survive in today's "managed" care system.

 

[LM02]

I am currently on internship at an academic medical center, so I interact daily with psychology faculty at a med school. Much like PublicHealth noted, they are mostly clinical researchers who have additional responsibilities such as serving on the intern/postdoc training committee, providing research and clinical supervision to interns/postdocs, and presenting the occasional seminar to interns/postdocs/residents. Some also have an assessment,therapy, or consultant role within the hospital.

The major issue that you should know about these jobs is that they are considered "soft money" positions. What that means is that you are required to generate your own salary through grant funding and/or patient billing. For example, you can have a grant fund 75% of your salary and you fund the additional 25% of your salary by working in one of the clinics and billing enough hours to cover that amount. In a traditional psychology department, you have a set salary that is not contingent upon the whims of government (e.g., NIH) trends in funding. You also can earn tenure, whereas tenure is rarely offered in medical school settings.

So there is a stability in traditonal psych department that you will not have in a medical school. Despite this, however, I am leaning towards a job in a med school. The responsibilities are a better fit for me (like you, I don't want to teach), and you have easier access to clinical populations for research. An additional plus is that the starting salary is anywhere from 25-40% higher in a med school than in a traditional psych dept setting, assuming you can secure the extramural funding to get hired on in the first place!

Hope that helps!