Which kind of doctor requires a lot of chemistry?

[fidelio]

Hey. I was interested in a profession that uses more chemistry than biology because my strength has always been chemistry.

Which doctors use the most chemistry?

If none really, then I might reconsider another profession.

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[nebrfan]

I would thinkthat a pathologist would use more chemistry than others - simply b/c they are generally responsible for the oversight of all the lab tests/micro/med techs and what not - however most of these tests are all automated anyways so I'm not sure actual hardcore chemistry goes on.

 

[SailCrazy]

Which doctors use the most chemistry?

PhDs in Chemistry!

 

[Will Hunting]

PhDs in Chemistry!

nice

 

[jintonic5]

my vote goes to path and anesthiesia... or however you spell it.

 

[Shobra]

It could also depend on how you define chemisty. There is gen chem, organic, physical, biological, physical organic, analytical, and so on...

In fact, I believe that at the level of a doctor, science disciplines become more interwoven. I can't think of many fields that require the knowledge of one discipline significantly over another. You will have to have studied them all, or else medical schools won't require them. I believe that there will always be concentration/molarity, pressure, catalyzed reactions, electricity and so forth. So, I don't think you should base you decision solely on how much chemistry is involved because everything converges down the road.

However, I'd tell you this, if you love chemistry so much, just go to a pharmacy school.

 

[SailCrazy]

nice

Hey - they are doctors!

A friend of mine actually got pulled aside by her lab professor and got the "I worked to hard for to long not to be called Dr..." talk when she didn't use the proper title!

 

[SailCrazy]

However, I'd tell you this, if you love chemistry so much, why don't you just go to a pharmacy school...?

Very good point. Or choose a PhD in chemistry, or an MD/PhD.

I also strongly agree with the "interwoven" thought too.

 

[Avalanche21]

I often wondered this. I like the primary care aspect of medicine, but I love chemistry too. MD/PhD isn't quite the same because it doesn't include primary care. If I wanted to just do research, I'd forget about medicine and get a PhD in chemistry.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Hey. I was interested in a profession that uses more chemistry than biology because my strength has always been chemistry.

Which doctors use the most chemistry?

If none really, then I might reconsider another profession.

I am guessing that pathology and pharmacology may.

I know that anesthesia uses a lot of chemistry. There are some interesting questions in the field that remain to be answered. It also overlaps very well with neuroscience (of course) and biophysics, if those fields interest you as well. I would say, though, that the research is very basic and not translational, like, say, immunology research.

 

[jintonic5]

I often wondered this. I like the primary care aspect of medicine, but I love chemistry too. MD/PhD isn't quite the same because it doesn't include primary care. If I wanted to just do research, I'd forget about medicine and get a PhD in chemistry.

i'm always so impressed by people who excel and enjoy chemistry. personally i'm more of a liberal arts minded person who's fascinated with the human body-- give me thoreau over titrations any day

 

[67192]

Hey - they are doctors!

A friend of mine actually got pulled aside by her lab professor and got the "I worked to hard for to long not to be called Dr..." talk when she didn't use the proper title!

Sheesh! Dr... needs to get a life!

 

[Enginerd42]

i'm always so impressed by people who excel and enjoy chemistry. personally i'm more of a liberal arts minded person who's fascinated with the human body-- give me thoreau over titrations any day

Thoreau's got nothing on titrations!

 

[Shredder]

Hey. I was interested in a profession that uses more chemistry than biology because my strength has always been chemistry.

Which doctors use the most chemistry?

If none really, then I might reconsider another profession.

dont consider another profession, medicines the only way to go if you want to be somebody and do meaningful work. do some google searches and dont listen to ppl who try to discourage you from going into medicine, i hate seeing smart, potential docs fall victim to that kind of discouragement. premed offices/advisors tend to be particularly good at discouraging premeds who are a little different. ok yeah im speaking from experience, bc i have interests in business many an advisor has been like , it sucks.

like others have said, look into pathology and probably anesthesiology. pharmacology would have a lot of chem...but are docs pharmacologists?

in short you should make the choice on your own about ditching medicine, and dont do it prematurely. medicines not the narrow field where every doc does primary care, which ppl make it seem like. some docs never even see patients. ok thats my "$0.02"

 

[Shredder]

"dont consider another profession, medicines the only way to go if you want to be somebody and do meaningful work."

This is very insulting. I guess judges, social workers, firefighters, phd's, pharmacists, etc are nobody. What an arrogant pre-med!

ok thats not what i meant, its just that i dont like seeing people who are interested in medicine get turned off bc ppl give them misleading information. there are lots of options within medicine to accomodate a fairly wide array of interests. all respect for those other fields, as long as the decision to enter them is based on sound premises. ive seen ppl who once had medical aspirations but somewhere along the line got turned away due to some errant advice, and looking back they wish they had not taken up that advice. and thats not too cool of a situation in my eyes. i have rarely seen the converse however. medicines just a good and fulfilling career, thats why its competitive.

 

[penguinophile]

I often wondered this. I like the primary care aspect of medicine, but I love chemistry too. MD/PhD isn't quite the same because it doesn't include primary care. If I wanted to just do research, I'd forget about medicine and get a PhD in chemistry.

If you love chemisty, then why are you concerned with primary care? All of the specialties that people are naming aren't primary care. If you got an MD/PhD, you could still see patients, you would just split your time between patients and research (given that 3/5 of the week would be research), but during your PhD years you could also take more Chem electives if you don't want a PhD in chem. You could get a pharmacology PhD and take some chem electives. That is, if you REALLY like chem (like me ) Personally that is actually my plan, or if not pharmacology, then MD/PhD in biochem. Anyway, thats my 0.02, good luck!

 

[QofQuimica]

However, I'd tell you this, if you love chemistry so much, just go to a pharmacy school.

I thought about this myself; there's a lot more overlap between pharmacy and medicinal chemistry than there is between medicine and medicinal chemistry. Some universities even put their med chem dept in the College of Pharmacy rather than in the College of Natural Sciences. But I believe that the medical degree is much more flexible than the pharmacy degree if you want to do clinical research, which is why I ultimately decided to apply to medical school instead of pharmacy school.

To answer the OP's question, lots of people already suggested anesthesiology, but I'd add neuroscience to the list too. I saw that just today someone had posted a thread in this forum about three molecules being found that protect tau protein in the brain.

 

[Shredder]

Medicine may not be a fufilling career for everyone. Before I entered medical school, a former classmate left her pre-med studies after doing so well. This person switched to a doctorate geophysics program. She wanted to continue her mathematics, physics, geology,etc and she felt her mathematical talents would go to waste if she were to pursue medicine.

As far as prestige, she gets a great deal of it from lay people to professionals.

yes...i guess i just took this issue personally bc so many unknowing ppl along my way have tried to tell me to do this and that, and its taken a lot of resilience on my part to ward off all of their silly suggestions. the essence of my point was supposed to be that if youre going to make a life decision, be entirely certain to make it on your own rather than based on what others say, meaning do ones own research and thinking and take everything else with a grain of salt.

 

[scooter31]

I'm suprised no ones said medical oncology.

I say medical oncology; chemotherapy, right? you attain it through a fellowship post IM/neurology residency if I recall

 

[subtle1epiphany]

nephro uses a lot of chemistry