When to do a postdoc?
Started by Equal
Most MD/PhD's don't do one (in the traditional sense, that is). They proceed from medical school to residency to fellowship, at which point they fulfill their independent research requirement and get their road show together for faculty applications.Equal said:
agreed.
we don't always do official postdocs. if your residency field requires research in the middle of it, you can consider these years a postdoc experience. although many places will let us opt out of these years if we desire.
also as mentioned, many fellowships have research time built into them, so this too can function as a postdoc.
also, it is good to remember that the later in the process you do your research, the more up to date it will be (i.e. can serve as foundation for grant funding). these are the skills you walk with. so it's best to do it as late in your career as you can, so you are still embedded in the scientific world (via both connections and publications) when you try and become independent.
we don't always do official postdocs. if your residency field requires research in the middle of it, you can consider these years a postdoc experience. although many places will let us opt out of these years if we desire.
also as mentioned, many fellowships have research time built into them, so this too can function as a postdoc.
also, it is good to remember that the later in the process you do your research, the more up to date it will be (i.e. can serve as foundation for grant funding). these are the skills you walk with. so it's best to do it as late in your career as you can, so you are still embedded in the scientific world (via both connections and publications) when you try and become independent.
There is a 3rd option for those interested in IM and some Peds places, the Research Residency/Medical Scientist Pathway (or whatever places call it).
For those unfamiliar, it's a 2-year Medicine or Peds residency, followed by a 1-2 year fellowship followed by a 3-year post-doc which includes a 10-20% clinical commitment, usually just a specialty continuity clinic. It's basically accelerated medicine/fellowship with a normal-length post-doc to allow you to both fulfill all ABIM/Specialty Board requirements for board certification and to get a decent research project going so that you're a fundable, hire-able physician/scientist when you're done. A number of places that I looked at also tend to offer the people coming out of their programs a job at the end of the post-doc in an 80/20 or 90/10 junior faculty position.
It's what I'm going for (Med Onc) and hoping to see on my list next Thursday.
BE
For those unfamiliar, it's a 2-year Medicine or Peds residency, followed by a 1-2 year fellowship followed by a 3-year post-doc which includes a 10-20% clinical commitment, usually just a specialty continuity clinic. It's basically accelerated medicine/fellowship with a normal-length post-doc to allow you to both fulfill all ABIM/Specialty Board requirements for board certification and to get a decent research project going so that you're a fundable, hire-able physician/scientist when you're done. A number of places that I looked at also tend to offer the people coming out of their programs a job at the end of the post-doc in an 80/20 or 90/10 junior faculty position.
It's what I'm going for (Med Onc) and hoping to see on my list next Thursday.
BE
brooklyneric said:
Hey good luck on Match Day
I am also interested in doing so for Peds, but unlike IM, some programs have vague descriptions about what their Research Residency entails, ie, "We offer an accelerated research pathway but we don't really like people who want to shorten their clinical training". Anyway, is there a one-stop website that lists these types of residency programs?
Hey there -
I'll try to investigate Peds options once I have a sit down with one of our grads this year going into Peds.
Again, very nebulous as far as details go.
I'll try to investigate Peds options once I have a sit down with one of our grads this year going into Peds.
Again, very nebulous as far as details go.
mdphd2b said:Hey good luck on Match Day
Actually, that was the first thing that drove me away from Peds, the vagueness of the research pathway. I've only been able to find 2 things on the ABP website:
http://www.abp.org/RESIDENT/fastrk.htm
and
http://www.abp.org/certinfo/genpeds/irp.htm
The other thing that turned me off from Peds was that I like solid tumor oncology and there is very little of that in Peds.
Good luck,
BE
mdphd2b said:
If anyone knows of one, please post 🙂 Although, I've asked this question in the past and the best response was a listing of the 6-8 programs that a graduating student last year knew of...
We could try creating a running list but I'm sure it'd would be grossly incomplete. Someone also made the point, too, that some programs do not have a formal option, but are willing to work with residents.
The UC-Irvine MSTP site has a pretty good list:
http://www.mstp.uci.edu/currentstudents/residencyandresearch.php
http://www.mstp.uci.edu/currentstudents/residencyandresearch.php
dante201 said:
Thanks guys 🙂 That's awesome.
