People always cite this as the primary reason to look at rank in deciding on a school. But, idk, my PI was a top academic physician and it seemed like a massive headache. He bowed out pretty quickly.
It looked like: constant grant-chasing, politics, excess work, paying a portion of clinical income back to the school, and very little actual teaching or time spent on his own research.
But maybe there are perks I don't see. Networking so you can get into better jobs? Idk. Why do people want it? What's the dream?
Is there a way to have a job that involves clinic work, research, and some elements of teaching (like training med students/residents in the hospital) without being in academia?
It seems like it would be possible to do research outside of academia. Biotech / pharma research, for example. You could work for the government or industry. But I'm not sure how much of an opportunity you'd really get to teach outside of an academic hospital.
There are many perks of working in an academic environment.
#1 Colleagues - Your partners will tend to be the 'leaders' of your specialty. They are the ones at the national meetings, policy committees, etc. No matter where you are, you are going to hear about and care about RVUs. You will also care about clinical outcomes and caring for patients. But, in academics you will spend less time worrying about RVUs than private.
#2 Shielding from call - If you are private practice, you have very little between you and the wards. You may hire a PA/NP to take some of the primary calls for you, but that is money out of your pocket. In academics, you will have residents/fellows who will stop most of crap from getting to you.
#3 Research - There are plenty of private practice docs that do research. But, it is simply easier in academics because it is a large part of what we do. Staff statisticians, dedicated IRB support staff, engineers, trial cordinators etc. being available makes projects move faster and with less stress on you. If clinical research is going to be a part of what you do, being in academics decreases your headaches.
#4 Teaching - While some private docs take on residents/medical students in their practices, these are generally not full time and you do not develop longitudinal relationships with your trainees. Academic physicians get to spend oodles of time with their trainees and get to be a core part of their development. Certainly not for everyone, but a very valuable thing for many in academics.
I would caution students that who teaches you in undergrad/medical school are NOT your typical academic physicians. The vast majority of academic physicians do not do basic science research. They don't teach classes. There is a tremendous variety of positions within academics that afford many with what they really want to do in their career.
