Working with young vs old research PI in medical school

[Tollats]

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Which of these two would be better for a med student looking to publish/present at conferences/build a network? I'll be working at an academic center, probably somewhere in clinical research. I'm not sure whether it is more ideal to work with old, well-known PI's who publish very frequently or if younger PI's would be more supportive for a med student (some of these younger guys/gals also publish frequently but have less of an overall 'impact' due to being relatively new).

I am also considering academic medicine/clinical research as a potential career path (although I'm not 100% set on this yet), and I'm not sure if that should influence my decision in any way.

 

[plshelpvanxious]

I imagine a better known PI is generally better. It helps to have connections with well-established people.
I'd personally pick whichever team/ project seems like a better fit. I always prioritize how much I'll enjoy the project, which may not always be the smartest move if your goal is to maximize achievement, but working with a group I like on a project I enjoy makes a big difference.

 

[sallyhasanidea]

Work with both never put your eggs in one basket.

 

[Naruhodo]

Go with someone established. Doesn't have to be super famous/old, but should have graduated 2+ PhDs so that they have a good idea how to be a mentor/supervisor. If they are a huge name, all the better (you'll probably end up working with one of their postodocs though realistically), but if you feel like you "click" with someone more junior it's fine to go for that and you probably would get more time one-on-one in the latter scenario.

 

[Goro]

Which of these two would be better for a med student looking to publish/present at conferences/build a network? I'll be working at an academic center, probably somewhere in clinical research. I'm not sure whether it is more ideal to work with old, well-known PI's who publish very frequently or if younger PI's would be more supportive for a med student (some of these younger guys/gals also publish frequently but have less of an overall 'impact' due to being relatively new).

I am also considering academic medicine/clinical research as a potential career path (although I'm not 100% set on this yet), and I'm not sure if that should influence my decision in any way.

Work with the supportive person. What good will doing research be if you are miserable?

 

[ooh a bean]

Work with both never put your eggs in one basket.

If time is feasible, I think this is a good option, too.

Currently working for an academic mentor and a private practice mentor and getting to see two different perspectives even through research is really nice. Also if one were to screw me over, I still have the other one as this person has said.

 

[Medic741]

Which of these two would be better for a med student looking to publish/present at conferences/build a network? I'll be working at an academic center, probably somewhere in clinical research. I'm not sure whether it is more ideal to work with old, well-known PI's who publish very frequently or if younger PI's would be more supportive for a med student (some of these younger guys/gals also publish frequently but have less of an overall 'impact' due to being relatively new).

I am also considering academic medicine/clinical research as a potential career path (although I'm not 100% set on this yet), and I'm not sure if that should influence my decision in any way.

IMO if you’re choosing between 2 personality fit and how interesting the research is could play a role in the decision. That and how motivated they are to publish and willing to give you interesting tasks in the lab.

My favorite PI so far has been a new PhD — he was just really excited about the work and was highly motivated to publish. Was refreshing!

 

[ndafife]

From my experiece new PI's are generally trying to pump out papers to get their name out there.

From a med student perspective: your focus is really productivity. You want to publish papers. From that perspective I'd go new PI

 

[GoSpursGo]

Ideally a young PI who has time to work directly with you, and ALSO is still getting direct mentorship from the more established person. That way you get the more hands-on mentorship from the young one while also associating your name with the established person.

 

[aldol16]

There are trade-offs with both:

Young:

Pros
- May not have tenure yet so will be trying to publish papers even if the papers have less "impact" (i.e. not NEJM).
- They don't have as much research funding so money may be hard to come by and therefore, projects will be less impactful.
- Are closer to you in terms of when they went through med school and residency so may be more able to relate and give more timely advice

Cons
- May be very busy, as they are just starting out in their career and trying to establish themselves, both as physicians and as researchers. Thus, they may have less time for you.
- Have had fewer mentees in the past so they are relatively new at this. There may be a few bumps in the road in terms of mentorship as they're trying to figure everything out too.

Old:

Pros
- They are more established in the field and it's always good to have someone in your corner who knows people (and who is well known themselves)
- They may publish in higher impact journals as a consequence of having more research funding.
- May be less busy depending on how old/which stage of their career they are in. In either case, they will have their routine figured out.
- They have more experience with mentorship so they know what to do. You're not their first mentee and likely won't be their last.

Cons
- May be more busy depending on which stage of the career they are in. If they're an editor for a large journal, they're likely to have less time.
- There is more of a generational gap so you may get less close to them in terms of the mentor-mentee relationship.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Generally speaking...

If you're a senior PI and published 80 publications... number 81 doesn't mean that much and you don't care when it happens, tomorrow versus 5 years from now.

If you're a junior PI and published 15 publications... number 16 should have been published yesterday.

I mean, beyond that... you should try to find 1) which one has more time to help you and 2) which one isn't a complete jerkwad.

But at the end of the day... as a trainee... it's all about the LPU.