Reprodutive endocrinology - is this the right place?

[evescadeceus]

What do you guys know about reproductive endocrinology? I'm premed and sort of guessing as to where I should post this. I'm thinking this would be a cool thing to pursue - even though the success rates are not that great now, there is a lot of demand, and the technology will probably get better.

Am I correct in thinking you pursue this after an internship in IM? Is it very competitive? What kind of speciality training, and how many years? If I'm in the wrong place, will somebody point me straight? Muchas gracias.

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[KUB]

This is a fellowship done after an OBGYN residency, not IM to the best of my knowledge. The last I heard, it was not that competitive. On the latter point, I could be completely wrong. I hope this helps (not much help, I know...)
K-

 

[Apollyon]

On AMA-FREIDA, it's not listed as an accredited fellowship (yet).

 

[Airborne]

Reproductive endocrinology is a 3 year fellowship after an OB/Gyn residency (which is 4 years).

It is a great field, which offers a unique ability to make a substantial impact into the lifes of couples and single women who are looking to have a baby -

It is also a nice lifestyle as compared with the typical OB/Gyn - as well as offering a very nice income. If one is inclinced towards research, there are unlimited opportunities, too.

The only down side I can see to this career choice is having to go through an OB/Gyn residency. In addition, after having spoke with our OB/Gyn residents, I am under the immpression that this is quite a difficult fellowship to land, although I could be mistaken.

The remuneration can be substantial once your track record in fertility is established.

Best of luck - and talk with your OB/Gyn residents during your clerkship about this - they will be more in tune with the fellowship and opportunies thereafter.

Airborne

 

[MSV MD 2B]

This specialty is at the top of my list. I am concerned about the obgyn residency though. I dont' want to do that and if i dont' get into a fellowship, i would be stuck in obgyn. i am starting medical school in the fall so I am at least going to explore it. here is a link that i found about fellowship programs.society for repro endo
i emailed someone at a reknowned intitute regarding the competititveness of this fellowship and she said that there's always a spot for someone who's passionate.

 

[evescadeceus]

This is interesting. Did she mention ways of demonstrating that passion during your first couple of years in med school? Are there any summer research opportunities if you go to a med school affiliated with a fellowship (at this point, I am not considering the MD/PhD)? Is it appropriate to bring up your interest during application interviews?

I understand about not wanting to get stuck doing ob/gyn if your real interest has always been fertility and embryos. I also think this field could grow tremendously with improved technology/better success rates. So it would be nice to have some idea of how to get started early.

I was just recently made aware of some of the negative perceptions of repro - that it can be seen as a graceful exit for those whose ob/gyn experience turned out to be less than what they hoped for. This makes me a little shy about asking around a lot, especially since I'm not even in a med school yet.

Thanks for all the input, guys, and for bearing with the fact that I posted in the wrong place.

 

[MSV MD 2B]

Hi! the person i talked to said that i would be well advised to do some research and that there were opportunities at that particular school to do summer and/ or extracurricular research. i am not sure that you have to go to a school that has that as a fellowshipfor medical school, maybe it would be good to do your residency at a school that has a repro endo fellowship though.
how far along are you? maybe you could shadow a repoductive endocrinologist?

 

[Celiac Plexus]

This fellowship is very hard to obtain. Start cultivating connections early and look for ob/gyn programs that have a repro/endo fellowship.

You can make a LOT of money in this field thanks to mostly fee for service payments.

 

[missschnippy]

I have a question. I am also interested in Endo. I haven't decided if I want to do reproductive, pediatric, or the general stuff, but I am very interested in how diabetes and insulin resistance affect fertility and contribute to PCOS and obesity. I'm not completely sure if I want to do things such as fertility counseling etc or do research. If you don't go reproductive endo, should you do an IM residency for the other two?

I'm a junior and I'm still trying to to decide between straight MD and MSTP, so I know I do't have to make a decision right this moment. However I want to make sure that I apply to schools that are strong in this program.

Another way to show interest in this field would be to volunteer at a diabetes clinic, or do undergrad research in a related discipline.

 

[MSV MD 2B]

HI! regular endocrinology is different from reproductive endcorinogloy.regular endocrinology deals with dabetes and thrydoi problems and basically non reproductive hormones and is a 2 year fellowhsip after an internal medicine residency.
i have just found out that pcos is dels with in both arenas as it can affect infertiliy and potentially diabetes due to the insulin reiistence involved.
with pediatric endocrinology, you do a peadiatrics residency and then an endocrinolgoy fellowship.

 

[missschnippy]

Thanks for clarifying that. It can get kind of confusing, since all of the disciplines overlap so much!