What education do I need to go into regenerative medicine.

[Korax]

I should begin by saying that I understand the regenerative medicine isn't a specialty in itself and in generally stem cell treatments aren't especially common, but I am interested in becoming a physician-scientist and do translation stem cell research while still practicing medicine.

So generally it seems like getting an MD/PhD is the eventual end goal to do what I want to, but I am trying to figure out the specifics such as:

1. As I am entering my senior high school year I am deciding on my major, would biomedical engineering be good considering I want to eventually do research or should I go for something more traditional like cell biology or biochem? I understand the difficulty of keeping my GPA up but this is assuming I could of course.
2. For the PhD should I look at programs that allow me to study tissue engineering or cell biology or even a program like this one offered by Icahn School of Medicine that has a specific stem cell biology focus?
3. Finally given that regenerative medicine isn't a specialty, what sort of residency would I do? I read on one website that it would be best to go into primary care as an internist or go into oncology, but I have heard other people say to specialize in whatever organ system interests you (personally I am interested in brain and spine injuries).

Thank you for any help.

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[Oso]

I would say, based on your interests, the best thing would be to go to a college that has ample research in stem cells/regenerative medicine. Being able to take part in research, learn some skills, and hopefully get a publication will be very important given your goals.

In terms of college major, eh, just do what you're most interested in. I don't think it will make a huge difference if you do BME vs cell bio vs biochem. I think BME will make the GPA thing harder, like you mentioned. Just make sure you take all the premed classes if you're set on getting the MD as well.

Do not worry about what graduate programs to apply to or what residency to choose. One step at a time, dude.

 

[Lucca]

Stopped at “high school.”

Way too early. Get into college first. Don’t base all of your decisions on the image of the final end point in your mind. Do things because you are passionate about them and enjoy them. You are so young. Keep yourself open to other options outside of medicine and science. I’m applying MD/PhD and I want to be a physician-scientist. I love science, it’s my favorite thing in the world. But there is also soooo much more to life. Focus on becoming an interesting, educated, and cultured person first.

Re: majors, it doesn’t matter. BME will open more doors for careers straight out of undergrad but will also be harder to get a good GPA in. If it’s what you are truly interested in, then do it anyways, but understand the risks associated with it. In terms of research, you can do BME research without majoring in BME. A lot of people in BME labs studied Physics, Chemistry or Biochem as a first degree. Physics, Chemistry, and Math are the best degrees for future basic scientists, IMO for reasons I’ve explained elsewhere. Doesn’t mean they are the right choice for you. Just my opinion.

 

[ebno]

I have a similar interest but I'm too early in the game to start researching schools, in my opinion. I'm doing a molecular biology major and am looking into my college's neuroscience center since there's nothing specifically focused on regenerative medicine here. However, the conditions being researched there have the potential of being treated with stem cells in the future. I would research labs at colleges you're considering, but it really shouldn't be your top criteria either.

Also, in high school I had the opportunity to visit labs focusing on regenerative medicine, and other topics, in my home city as well as going to short lectures. I talked to researchers and that gave me a bit of perspective on what I'd like to major in. If you can get any sort of tiny exposure to the sciences, I find that to be quite helpful.

However, yes, you are still a rising senior. My aspirations changed quite a bit between junior and senior year of high school, so I think it's useless to spend hours looking into graduate schools, medical schools, etc. for something you might not be as interested in the year after. It's better to research that when you're late in college or at least when you've gotten some first-hand experience at scientific research.