research or practice

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I attended a prestigious graduate school that is extremely research oriented. However, the more clinical experience I have, the more I realize that I enjoy clinical work - perhaps even more than research and definitely more than the academic writing associated with publications. However, bc I have been trained in such a research oriented graduate school, I am finding it difficult to let that part go - and also fear disappointing my advisor and other faculty. Just wondering if there are others in similar positions.
Also, any advice on where I should look for jobs after internship/post-doc will also be much appreciated. I can't seem to find those ideal positions that combines research and practice.

 

[Psyclops]

You are asking the wrong question in my opinion. Take out the "or" and replace it with a "/". Do both, they both inform each other, and they will lead you to be better at both.

 

[Sanman]

I don't know what you rinterest areas are, but academic medical centers are generally pretty good for research and practice, at least in my experience. Someone with more experience want to chime in?

 

[LM02]

I don't know what you rinterest areas are, but academic medical centers are generally pretty good for research and practice, at least in my experience. Someone with more experience want to chime in?

Although, in theory, you can do a 50/50 job in an academic medical center, it is very hard to do in practice.

Why? The funding situation.

If you pursue a job at an academic medical center (not as a postdoc, but as an actual faculty member), your funding comes from one of two places: 1) Soft money research grants, or 2) Clinical billing.

If you take a soft money research job, there is going to be a lot of pressure on you to write grants, perform funded research, and write papers that will make you more competitive for grants. Basically, as long as you have grants to support you, you have a job. If you have no grant money, there's no job. So although you could squeeze a little clinical time on the side, it won't be 50%.

If you take a clinical job, you're responsible for generating your salary by billing a certain amount of hours. As such, there's a tremendous amount of pressure on you to see patients. Plus, it is very easy for your clinical responsibilities to creep in and take over your research time. So, again, it's very hard to split your time 50/50.