What does it take to be a surgeon and a researcher at the same time?

[Macromind101]

I've heard of surgeons who do research during the times that they are not performing surgery. This seems like a very interesting combination to me as my dream is to become a neurosurgeon but I enjoy research as well, having done a few internships in high school. My question is, what is the path to becoming both a surgeon and a researcher? I know that there are MD's and PhD's but there are also dual degrees of MD-PhD's and after doing some searching, it seems that those who possess dual-degrees of MD-PhD's are medical researchers. So what kind of post-graduate education do I need in order to successfully obtain the education that I'm going after? I definitely plan on going to medical school to obtain my MD but can I study to obtain my PhD at the same time or do I need to study to obtain the dual-degree separately?

Oh and one more question. If a surgeon is a researcher as well, then what kind of research does the surgeon typically perform? I would think that he would perform clinical research rather than bench research as clinical research is more correlated with the study of medicine and surgery. I've done bench research as an intern in high school and it was a good experience but I was thinking about switching to clinical research at the university hospital in college since it's more correlated to what I wish to pursue as a career.

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[rigid]

You want to be a neurosurgeon - awesome you have a goal

What you need to focus on is the steps to achieve your goal:

1 - Get into Medical School
2 - Get into Neurosurgery residency

Being a surgeon / researcher is good but you need to become a surgeon first so focus on that and good luck

 

[thedrjojo]

Many surgeons at academic medical centers are both researchers and clinicians.

It requires no additional degrees or training, just the knowledge, infrastructure, and ability to get funding for your research. I say just, but none of these 3 are easy in the least, so it is often a struggle.

Most surgeon researchers oversee a project and will have people working and doing the actual experiment for them... Phd's, lab techs, residents, medical students... A wide gambit. But, most attendings aren't sitting there pipetting and running pcr during their down time.

 

[Dr.LeoSpaceman]

One of my mentors says something like this: If you divide the life of an academic surgeon into three areas (research, clinical practice, family/personal life), you can only pick two in which to excel.

And to answer your question, there are a number of ways to get to that point. Some do a combined MD-PhD program, some just do the MD then take time in residency to do what amounts to a postdoc where they develop their research career (and may get a PhD in the process). Either way, expect to spend an extra 4-5 years (at least) in training compared to someone who is looking to go straight through and start a clinical practice.

 

[Serous Demilune]

One of my mentors says something like this: If you divide the life of an academic surgeon into three areas (research, clinical practice, family/personal life), you can only pick two in which to excel.

I would think you could be decent at two but only excel at one.

 

[Kahreek]

i think he was being optimist, i would say pick one to excel at.

 

[thedrjojo]

Speaking of which, got two abstracts as posters at ACS this year. San Francisco here I come

 

[thedrjojo]

Posters or presentations? I'm presenting in the scientific forum

Just posters. I'm ok with it, I have an oral presentation at ACS NSQIP conference in Nyc in July and world transplant congress in San fran 2 days later, and posters are less stress.