Hi, I’m an undergrad student in New York and I’m currently at Queens College. I’ve been trying to find out a good career path for me but I’ve been very indecisive. I’m sorry that this may be long so whoever can give me advice or suggestions thank you very much.
I love molecular biology and genetics and personally believe understanding the influence of gene expression, epigenetic interactions like mythalation of histones of the DNA which influence transcription, and overall protein confirmation will help change the way we treat people with specific disorders and diseases and lead to a better and more individual tailored form of treatment. I work in microbiology lab in my school and as an EMT for a bit and can’t really decide which I like more. I like the ability to look for a problem in the research and find protocols which will help lead to abetter experiment, working with DNA is awesome but I also like the feeling of directly helping someone and also it’s a little fun mastering the ABCs and patient history and you feel like a detective trying to find what’s really going on. I’m leaning more towards a PhD in molecular biology or pharmacology because I want to understand the pathways of certain diseases and disorders but a part of me would be unhappy without actually being near patients and talking and helping them in front of me. I know pepole do MDPhD programs but those seem so competitive and intimidating that I’d be hesitant to do one so are there other career paths in medicine and or resarch that combine these interest? Thank you very much for any suggestions
Rewarding is in the eye of the beholder.
You can do research without a PhD and just an MD, but it will be different from the type of research you would do if you got both or if you got only a PhD. Being an EMT isn’t really the same as being a doctor. How much experience do you have observing/speaking with MDs about what their work is like?
What year are you?
It’s totally up to you and it is something that only you can answer for yourself.
I believe that they are likely “different” types of rewarding though and to be completely thorough, bench research is not the same as translational or clinical research. Each has different levels of applicability to the patient. Some people love finding out something that no one knew before, no matter how small that piece of knowledge is. Others need to see that their efforts are making other better, that personal glory is nothing if it can’t benefit others in a very direct way.
You should only become an MD if you want the interactions that being a physician provides. In my opinion, the bench research will be there, the barriers to entry are much lower and you can add it to your repertoire at many different points of your career - for example, I have several friend/co-workers who didn’t participate in bench research until they reached fellowship. I know at least one NIH funded researcher who didn’t start until they were an attending. While people go into medical school at lots of different points of their career, there are simply a lot more barriers to getting into medical school and the process of medical school and training almost by definition places some limits on bench research. My co-fellows in the pediatric ICU could not complete experiments during the weeks that they were on service taking care of patients, or because they were on-call, they missed lab meetings and research presentations that would have been beneficial to them because of their clinical responsibilities, and at times suffered criticism from their research counterparts who perceived them as less dedicated to “science”. But they also wanted, needed that clinical participation to be fulfilled.
So you have to decide what’s an absolute “must” vs a “nice to have”. If you clinical practice is the “must” then med school is the only answer and you’ll work in the research as you’re able. If clinical practice is only “nice to have” then your decision is less clear.