USC program anyone?
Started by UHS05
my friend is there'ill email her to see if she's got any comments to share.👍
Thanks Stephew...will keep an eye out for what your friend has to say 👍
Since you're at JHU and you've been trough the madness of the match process, what programs would you say are good for someone that has an interest in academic medicine. I have a ph.D in cancer biology and I thought that would help me...however, I just met one of the physicians who's on the residency selection panel at a midwestern program who said they actually didn't rank people with research experience since they were "too into research"
...and this is one of the better Big XII schools.
I thought one of the biggest reasons that rad-oncs often ended up being the last in line for cancer referrals was that not too much work has been don to investigate the effects of radiation therapy on local and metastatic tumors at a molecular level.
Don't get me wrong...my primary goal is to be a clinical radiation oncologist, but I would like to dabble in some research...clinical or basic science...on the side...
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...Thanks in advance.
Since you're at JHU and you've been trough the madness of the match process, what programs would you say are good for someone that has an interest in academic medicine. I have a ph.D in cancer biology and I thought that would help me...however, I just met one of the physicians who's on the residency selection panel at a midwestern program who said they actually didn't rank people with research experience since they were "too into research"
...and this is one of the better Big XII schools.
I thought one of the biggest reasons that rad-oncs often ended up being the last in line for cancer referrals was that not too much work has been don to investigate the effects of radiation therapy on local and metastatic tumors at a molecular level.
Don't get me wrong...my primary goal is to be a clinical radiation oncologist, but I would like to dabble in some research...clinical or basic science...on the side...
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...Thanks in advance.
I think your research can only help you for most programs especially USCF and Stanford. Many programs are psyched about the possibility of a MD PhD, and your cancer biology experience is a plus. If you want to do academics, I wouldn't hide that fact, as that is what some places are actually looking for.
Thanks for the optimistic input Niraj...I was actually kinda shocked when the residency panel guy said that...I would think just the opposite should be true. But I guess to each program their own
Hey Stephew, lemme know about that USC program whenever you get a chance. Thanks again all.
Hey Stephew, lemme know about that USC program whenever you get a chance. Thanks again all.
I'm currently going through the process for a Rad Onc position (putting in my ROL tonight, in fact), and coming into the process I really bought into the whole "research is what they all want to see" spiel. Having quite a bit of quality research experience, both bench (free radical biology) and clinical, I found this to be an encouraging thought. However, out on the interview trail I found a couple of places where the PD was turned off by my penchance for research. The weirdest thing was that they were both "name" places. That being said, most programs were in fact delighted to see that aspect of my CV, but it's definitely true that some of the Rad Onc programs out there actually view research interests as a negative.... 😡
Niraj --
Again, let me affirm that I believe that the VAST majority (read, nearly all) of Rad Onc programs are friendly to applicants with a yearn for research. Now that ROLs are in, I can comment on my biggest surprise: Cleveland Clinic. While certainly not a top tier program, it has a big enough name and good enough reputation that I would have thought that research would be a big plus there.
Some of the residents do some research; however, most of it in the Rad Onc department is retrospective. Very little exposure to bench investigation, and the residents don't seem to get a lot of experience in clinical protocols as well. Could this simply be representative of the current crop of residents (who are all very cool, by the way)? Of course.
However, in my interview with their brand spankin' new PD, he really went out of his way to express to me that he didn't think that applicants with a strong commitment to research should consider the Clinic. He said that his goal is to train the best clinical Rad Onc'ers around and that he doesn't believe that doing research on the side really allows for that excellence.
Again, let me affirm that I believe that the VAST majority (read, nearly all) of Rad Onc programs are friendly to applicants with a yearn for research. Now that ROLs are in, I can comment on my biggest surprise: Cleveland Clinic. While certainly not a top tier program, it has a big enough name and good enough reputation that I would have thought that research would be a big plus there.
Some of the residents do some research; however, most of it in the Rad Onc department is retrospective. Very little exposure to bench investigation, and the residents don't seem to get a lot of experience in clinical protocols as well. Could this simply be representative of the current crop of residents (who are all very cool, by the way)? Of course.
However, in my interview with their brand spankin' new PD, he really went out of his way to express to me that he didn't think that applicants with a strong commitment to research should consider the Clinic. He said that his goal is to train the best clinical Rad Onc'ers around and that he doesn't believe that doing research on the side really allows for that excellence.
to be honest, I expec they'd be very happy for someone to do some clinical work but it seems like they dont want to have a hard core scientist type program which is fair enough. There is a mistake in thinking medicine is best viewed as hard core science; its an art with scientific rigor; the basic scientists have a role in rad onc but a program may not want to focus on that.
steph
steph
