Two questions...

[EyeLuvRcadeFyre]

I'm a non-trad heading to med school this Fall, and am 80% sure that I'll be doing Path as a career. I've been working at Genentech for a while, and have started to get good at developing new molecular diagnostics. I have a strong interest in research, and will probably be carrying this on in my career in conjunction with my clinical duties (have I already stepped on a landmine?). I got two-ish questions for you guys:

1. How much research time (protected or not) do path residents get? Is there room for this at all during residency, or only during fellowship?

2. What's the major drawback in doing ONLY AP or CP as opposed to AP/CP? Could one do only AP or CP and then a specialized fellowship (I'm thinking Molecular Path)?

I am prepared to be humbled by your wisdom...or snark.

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[gbwillner]

I'm a non-trad heading to med school this Fall, and am 80% sure that I'll be doing Path as a career. I've been working at Genentech for a while, and have started to get good at developing new molecular diagnostics. I have a strong interest in research, and will probably be carrying this on in my career in conjunction with my clinical duties (have I already stepped on a landmine?). I got two-ish questions for you guys:

1. How much research time (protected or not) do path residents get? Is there room for this at all during residency, or only during fellowship?

2. What's the major drawback in doing ONLY AP or CP as opposed to AP/CP? Could one do only AP or CP and then a specialized fellowship (I'm thinking Molecular Path)?

I am prepared to be humbled by your wisdom...or snark.

1. Depends. Some programs=LOTS, some programs=NONE.

2. The ONLY drawback is that if you decide to do private practice, you will be at a disadvantage. If you want to do academics only, there is no drawback. Yes, one could do AP/CP only and a fellowship.

 

[Tissue issue]

I'm a non-trad heading to med school this Fall, and am 80% sure that I'll be doing Path as a career. I've been working at Genentech for a while, and have started to get good at developing new molecular diagnostics. I have a strong interest in research, and will probably be carrying this on in my career in conjunction with my clinical duties (have I already stepped on a landmine?). I got two-ish questions for you guys:

1. How much research time (protected or not) do path residents get? Is there room for this at all during residency, or only during fellowship?

2. What's the major drawback in doing ONLY AP or CP as opposed to AP/CP? Could one do only AP or CP and then a specialized fellowship (I'm thinking Molecular Path)?

I am prepared to be humbled by your wisdom...or snark.

With your Genentech/molecular diagnostics background, pathology chairmen are going to LOVE you. You shouldn't have a problem getting research time, especially at a big name institution, but that will include you putting in extra hours to make your own time.
Out of curiousity, why not just stay at Genentech and work your way up there??

 

[EyeLuvRcadeFyre]

With your Genentech/molecular diagnostics background, pathology chairmen are going to LOVE you. You shouldn't have a problem getting research time, especially at a big name institution, but that will include you putting in extra hours to make your own time.
Out of curiousity, why not just stay at Genentech and work your way up there??

If I was one of the first 50 employees...having only a Masters would have been fine. I might have even been able to have own lab. I joined after the enormous success of Herceptin and Avastin, so I'm a small fish in a very very very big pond.

If I want to continue in medical research, I need an M.D. or a Ph.D. I'm doing the M.D. because I'll have greater exposure to other diseases (I've been in breast cancer for a while), as I don't immediately know what indication(s) I will pursue as my career expertise.

Thank you, both, for the input.

 

[KCShaw]

Just realize that getting through medical school and residency will take a lot of time and money, which will probably eat substantially into your time for other interests (such as keeping up with the molecular work). In a lot of the CP fields, a PhD will open almost as many doors, and would be a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper to accomplish, IMO.

That said, with a very..directed and specific interest in molecular path/diagnostics, and a reasonable background to understand what you might be getting into (not just saying you like it because it sounds cool), there's certainly room to do something like CP only (generally much more "free" time as compared to AP only -- different styles) followed by a fellowship in molecular -- if you don't change your mind or get burned out way, way before you get to that point while trying to study and continue reasonably serious work in the field. Or do an MD/PhD, which extends the training but would probably slot into your niche interests better.

People do it (MD while working/basic science researching fairly seriously), don't get me wrong, but I think a lot more people want or try to do it than succeed at doing it. And people go into isolated research careers with an MD and some also do very well, but I have doubts that the time and money on the MD serves them or their career interests any better than a PhD. But I'm not a basic science/heavy research type, so take that with a grain of salt I suppose.

 

[EyeLuvRcadeFyre]

Just realize that getting through medical school and residency will take a lot of time and money, which will probably eat substantially into your time for other interests (such as keeping up with the molecular work). In a lot of the CP fields, a PhD will open almost as many doors, and would be a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper to accomplish, IMO.

That said, with a very..directed and specific interest in molecular path/diagnostics, and a reasonable background to understand what you might be getting into (not just saying you like it because it sounds cool), there's certainly room to do something like CP only (generally much more "free" time as compared to AP only -- different styles) followed by a fellowship in molecular -- if you don't change your mind or get burned out way, way before you get to that point while trying to study and continue reasonably serious work in the field. Or do an MD/PhD, which extends the training but would probably slot into your niche interests better.

People do it (MD while working/basic science researching fairly seriously), don't get me wrong, but I think a lot more people want or try to do it than succeed at doing it. And people go into isolated research careers with an MD and some also do very well, but I have doubts that the time and money on the MD serves them or their career interests any better than a PhD. But I'm not a basic science/heavy research type, so take that with a grain of salt I suppose.

Hadn't checked this in a while...I've been too absorbed in nail biting and waiting for acceptances. Thanks for your input. I'm too old to do an MD/PhD (IMO), but I know my biochemistry better than most biology postdocs. Self-inflating aside, I was hoping that I could do research on the side in med school (probably setting myself up for disaster...but maybe the summers and part of 4th year) and hopefully get into the same school's path program so that I can continue my research. I only applied to schools with protected research time, and so far have a decent spread of acceptances to pick from. That being said, I've been considering the PhD angle more closely, and now think that I'll defer my acceptance for a year while I determine if getting a PhD would be better worth my while. Also, that other long-ass thread about the perceived "shortage" of pathologists has successfully scared me from pursuing path.