Quick Question

[Chemist0157]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forums, and to the field of medicine as a matter of fact. I'm pre-med, and I'm looking into getting an MD/Ph.D.

But I'm not sure if that's what I really need to be qualified for the job I'd like to one day have. I want to be involved in the development of new drugs, especially the chemistry side of it (I'm a chemistry major).

Is a joint degree exactly what I need, or am I way off base?

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[solitude]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forums, and to the field of medicine as a matter of fact. I'm pre-med, and I'm looking into getting an MD/Ph.D.

But I'm not sure if that's what I really need to be qualified for the job I'd like to one day have. I want to be involved in the development of new drugs, especially the chemistry side of it (I'm a chemistry major).

Is a joint degree exactly what I need, or am I way off base?

It's really not clear what you mean by "involved in the development of new drugs". Can you be more specific, or do you just not know (which is OK!)?

The generic answer is that if you want to spend 100% of your time on drug development with no clinical time, you have little need for an MD and should just do a PhD; if you want to do research and see patients, MD/PhD is one good option.

 

[GreenMudPhud]

1) Orgo:synth Ph.D.
2) PCAT

After these, g work at a drug company.

 

[QofQuimica]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forums, and to the field of medicine as a matter of fact. I'm pre-med, and I'm looking into getting an MD/Ph.D.

But I'm not sure if that's what I really need to be qualified for the job I'd like to one day have. I want to be involved in the development of new drugs, especially the chemistry side of it (I'm a chemistry major).

Is a joint degree exactly what I need, or am I way off base?

No, you don't need a joint degree if you want to be a chemist. And it may be hard to do an MD/PhD in organic chem anyway, although I'm sure pharm would be pretty common. The few MD/PhD organic chemists whom I've met are people like me who have done/are doing separate degrees. It sounds to me like a PhD in med chem might be a good plan for you. Maybe look into that. to you.

 

[Chemist0157]

Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it.

Basically, I want to be a doctor; I definitely want my MD. But I also want chemistry somehow incorporated into my career. Would something like an MD with a master's in medicinal chemistry make sense? I wonder if there is a school that offers such a program.

 

[QofQuimica]

Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it.

Basically, I want to be a doctor; I definitely want my MD. But I also want chemistry somehow incorporated into my career. Would something like an MD with a master's in medicinal chemistry make sense? I wonder if there is a school that offers such a program.

I don't know of one off hand, but there might be. Other options would be to do your grad degree in pharmacology or biochem. Those aren't organic synthesis, but you could still do drug discovery as a pharmacologist or a biochemist.

 

[Chemist0157]

Thanks, Q. You're awesome

 

[QofQuimica]

Thanks, Q. You're awesome

Well, if I've saved you from doing a 14-year-long MD/PhD like I ended up doing, I'll consider that post to be time well-spent. Since you're sure you want an MD, I really think that you should consider going into pharm unless you're dead-set on doing synthesis. I'm not sure if we have any MD/PhD students doing their PhDs in pharm on SDN, but at the very least there is one guy, Scottish Chap, who did his PhD in pharm before going to med school. He's probably a good person for you to talk to. He posts in the Nontrad forum a lot, or you might also try PMing him and asking what he things about your opportunities in drug discovery with a pharm degree (either MD/MS or MD/PhD).

 

[Chemist0157]

The real question is do I really need a PhD? I honestly don't want to get a PhD if a MS in pharmocology is all that I need.

I'm still doing some serious thinking about my career direction so I may just drop the whole thing and stick with just an MD, lol. I really just want to go as far as an MD/MS...but I'm worried an MS isn't enough.

I'll see if I can contact Scottish Chap.

 

[CCLCMer]

The real question is do I really need a PhD? I honestly don't want to get a PhD if a MS in pharmocology is all that I need.

I'm still doing some serious thinking about my career direction so I may just drop the whole thing and stick with just an MD, lol. I really just want to go as far as an MD/MS...but I'm worried an MS isn't enough.

I'll see if I can contact Scottish Chap.

I don't know if you'd be interested, but my school (CCLCM, which is part of Case Western) offers a five-year MD/MS with an option to do the MS in pharm or biochem. But there's no option here for med chem as far as I know. I am doing my MS in clinical research (clinical trials), so that's another option too. You can definitely be a physician scientist with just an MD or with an MD/MS, especially if you're wanting to do clinical research. I even know some MDs who are doing basic science research too. But I think it's harder to do basic science with just an MD, and probably you should at least get an MS if you want to do basic science research. I say that because med school really doesn't train you to do bench work. I think it's possible to do a research fellowship after you get your MD though, so that might be something else you could look into.

 

[Chemist0157]

I looked at Case. Looks good. You were talking about the MD/MS in biomedical investigation, right? Looks like my kind of thing