Research Under Optometrist?

[chirpyCHRPE]

I am an upcoming DO student who has experience working as a tech. I was offered the opportunity to work with an OD/PhD that focuses on ophthalmic imaging and technology. I’m very excited as the current projects they are working on fit my interests.

I know that research is research, and any type of research is valuable, but in a few years when I apply to residency, are programs gonna expect me to also do research under an ophthalmologist? This PI publishes in many journals and presents frequently at many conferences, both optometry and ophthalmology specific ones.

Curious to know what you all think, thanks!

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[RetinaDude]

In my opinion, the PhD is what legitimizes the research component more than the OD part (and more than an MD/DO too). Being an OD may be what got the person interested in optics but having a PhD in that area demonstrates their commitment to excellence in researching the topic more. It’ll look good on your CV no matter what, especially if this person is associated with the med school and/or ophthalmology training program

 

[MstaKing10]

What’s their affiliation? With an MD academic institution? If so great. If it’s linked to an OD institution and/or research predominantly published in OD journals then likely will carry less weight (in some cases may hurt…not sure).

 

[Slide]

Should be fine, as said earlier the PhD will carry more research legitimacy than any MD or OD can provide.

 

[chirpyCHRPE]

What’s their affiliation? With an MD academic institution? If so great. If it’s linked to an OD institution and/or research predominantly published in OD journals then likely will carry less weight (in some cases may hurt…not sure).

I’m not too sure whether or not these are OD vs ophtho specific journals but some examples where they published are in Journal of Glaucoma and Translational Vision Sciences and Technology. They definitely have publications in both OD and ophtho specific journals.

The institution they are affiliated with is spelt an OD institution. I plan to also to reach out to ophthalmologists for mentorship and research projects as well. I’m curious, why do you think that publishing in OD journals may be harmful? I would think that if the research is primarily focused on contact lenses or another optometry heavy topic, I could understand. But if the research is focused on ocular disease treatment/outcomes or on ophthalmic imaging and technology, why could that be seen as a negative? Say I did research in another medical specialty, would that be harmful as well?

 

[MstaKing10]

I’m not certain it will hurt in any way. Probably not. But I toss it out there as an issue only because some of the old guard (not me personally, but I’m not academic) do not look favorably on ODs and may see research with ODs published in OD journals from an OD institution equally unfavorably. Again, I’m not sure about this but something to think about.

 

[Dusn]

I'd choose to publish in an ophthalmology journal or a general science journal over an OD specific journal. ODs have a reputation for accepting scientific quackery if it'll make them money. Unfortunately I admittedly see this happening amongst MDs as well. But the reputation for accepting a degree of pseudo-science, fairly or unfairly, may extend to OD journals.

 

[eyeeye_captain]

Positives: PhD means a good baseline for research. Imaging and ocular disease usually cross over into ophtho. The journals are ok and would have MD/DO readers, plus are not super high impact so easier to get something published. Early research lets you be productive. Early research for a DO student is not usually easy to find and will certainly be helpful given the DO match rate.

Negatives: An OD associated with an OD school probably does not have major MD/DO connections you can leverage. Even if the mentor was affiliated with a residency, I’ve never seen an OD or research PhD on an interview panel, so despite being helpful in a department, a potential phone call or LOR won’t carry as much weight (if any) as an MD/DO one.

As to potential harm from publishing in OD journals, the above with the old guard would be my guess as well. The reality is that there are programs that are already going to dock you or flat out reject you as a DO. If most of your research is in journals that are, in some minds, equivalent to publishing in a nursing journal for other competitive fields, you’re in more trouble. I won’t get into quackery since I agree that’s universal, but it’s also hard to know how high/low the bar is to get something published in these journals. Fair? Not really to hard no. True in my experiences across programs though.

 

[chirpyCHRPE]

I'd choose to publish in an ophthalmology journal or a general science journal over an OD specific journal. ODs have a reputation for accepting scientific quackery if it'll make them money. Unfortunately I admittedly see this happening amongst MDs as well. But the reputation for accepting a degree of pseudo-science, fairly or unfairly, may extend to OD journals.

Definitely will do my best to network with ophthalmologists and to research under them. A bit harder though as my school does not have a home program but I’ll do what it takes.

I’m also interested in IM and a few of its sub specialties so I’ll also try and do research there as well.