Research career in pathology?

[Feier]

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I'm a (soon to be, currently in high school) Argentine medical student from the University of Buenos Aires. The school is ACGME recognized, there is even an organization with a couple of thousand Argentine-American FMGs and even my uncle got a neurology spot in New York College (he is quite recognized now in his field, does research in vascular neurology).

I'm positive I want research to be the main focus of my career (aging is the field I'm specifically interested in). However, I believe that medical practice can contribute a lot (thinking about the body is not the same as thinking about physics, experience seems to be of extreme importance). Pathology seems to be the most scientifically challenging medical discipline, and you get to work directly with the human body all the time.

I have a couple of questions, and I hope you can answer them for me:

a) I heard about combined residency/PhD programs, which would be ideal for me. Have you heard of any of such programs for pathology residencies? Could I get in even as a FMG?
b) Is aging considered a pathology research field? What I want to study is just that: how and why the body ages (not interested in gerontology or any social aspect).
c) Being mainly interested in research, is going into a pathology worth it or would I be better off just getting a PhD? Bear in mind that one way or another I'm getting the MD here, and if I don't go through an American residency it would be useless (apart from getting me into a PhD program).
d) Is there anything I can do to improve my chances of getting a pathology residency other than getting good grades, good test scores and research? Maybe something to show how interested I am in the field (I'm going to med school solely to get into pathology).
e) Should I remain anonymous? I'm not trying to hide anything of what I said, but since most users are doing it I'm just wondering why.

I ask all of this because if what I want is not viable, I should consider applying for a PhD position. But I would really love to be a pathologist.

Please comment anything you feel like (even if it doesn't directly answer my questions). Maybe you know a pathologist who is mainly focused in research and you could tell me what exactly does his job consists of?

By the way, is there anyone who actually likes the job? I have read a lot of negativity here.

 

[mlw03]

Interesting questions. I'll share my thoughts on a few of them.

MD/PhDs in the US are obtained in med school. I don't know of any formal residency/PhD programs. Residents are expected to do service work for their salary, so I don't think most places want to pay you $55K per year to be a grad student effectively. Some of the big research institutions may be willing to considering something like this, but it's definitely not common. You'd just have to inquire at each place.

Aging could certainly be considered a pathology research field, with the molecular issues of telomere shortening and such. Given that aspect and your desire to be a researcher, one thing to consider would be a CP only residency, if you are absolutely sure you have no future desire to be a diagnostic pathologist. That said, given your career goals, I do think you should strongly consider not doing a residency and just going for the PhD. If you want a path residency in the US, do the stuff you listed. Your English is clearly very strong, which is always a concern for FMGs from non-English speaking countries.

As to anonymity, that's up to you. I'm quite sure anyone with any desire to do so could figure out my real name, but some people like the anonymous nature of the internet for a discussion forum like this, so it's just a matter of personal choice.

I will add one comment about the life of a researcher. It's a tough life and you live and die by grant funding. Publish or perish is the rule, and the funding battle is a never-ending one. It's one of many reasons I had no interest in pursuing this for my career.

Last, yeah, plenty of us like our jobs. But the business climate for a community-based diagnostic pathologist is tough, and there is much uncertainty about the future of healthcare legislation in the US and issues of reimbursement. I'm a forensic pathologist, and I very much like what I do, but it's an entirely different day to day job than a hospital based pathologist.