Types of Research as a Neurologist

[tesla19]

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I'm very interested in neurology, and like the idea of being a clinician and a researcher. I have worked in a lab for 2 summers, and do not really like basic research, though it was a good experience. Research that interests me would be more behavioural stuff, maybe slightly more in the realm of psychology. For example, I read an article in the nytimes recently about research on dreams and sleeping patterns, which I found fascinating. A couple of the people quoted in the article were neurologists who it seemed did research in that area. So my question is, what type of research can neurologists do, and what type of set up would be conducive to different types of research?

 

[PhakeDoc]

One of the major factors (aside from the subject matter) which drew me to neurology was the ability to do with it as you wish...from pure academic basic science researcher who never sees patients to a pure private practice.

From a med student's perspective, you can do research in really whatever area/capacity you wish (keeping in mind departmental funding requirements). You can do lab-based work (genetics, immuno/virology, cell and molecular bio, and systems and computational work), humans, population-based studies (epidemiology), and clinical trials. As far as what's conducive for different areas depends really on the areas. Many of the big areas have research endeavors from multiple fronts.

 

[rahuldave]

Tesla,

You should really think about neuropsychiatry, behavioural neurology, or cognitive neurology. Within Neurology, there's a lot of focus from the NIH (at present) towards Alzheimer's disease, but you can find institutions/departments where the focus is on other higher-order brain functions. You should also consider psychiatry departments and, truth be told, there's a lot of overlap between the two (more than some of us would like to admit).

Rahul

 

[tesla19]

Thanks for the responses! All other responses are of course still welcomed.

 

[still h0ping]

Hi,
I'm an undergrad, but I've had several profs as neurologists, and am currently working in one's lab right now. Many neurologists are cognitive neuroscientists, so are interested in how certain cognitive processes such as executive function, working memory, episodic memory, or behavioral control processes work. They work with various imaging technologies such as the fMRI, MRI, PET, as well as EEG in experiments. Depending on what field of neurology you're interested in, I'd recommend reading some papers from the literature to see where the current research is right now.