<p>As you can probably see from my other threads, I am looking for fall-back options after a biomedical PhD (since the job prospects suck so much)</p>
<p>Is it feasible/has it been done before for people to go to physician ASSISTANT programs after a biomedical phd? I know that medical school is a common path after a PhD, but I am looking for more alternatives.</p>
<p>Physician assistants enjoy job stability (I think) and their income is enough to support a family on.</p>
<p>since when did job prospects suck? you can make more than a PA working in pharma with a PhD. in fact, you can make up to 200K…</p>
<p>why do you even want a PhD?</p>
<p>I don’t think prospects “suck so much” at all… compared to what?</p>
<p>Do they really not suck?</p>
<p>How easy would it be to get that job in pharma?</p>
<p>I want a PhD to do research. I want a research career, but I’m asking these questions for a fall-back (stuff I would do if the research didn’t work out).</p>
<p>I don’t see why you would bother getting the phd if you are in any way interested in being a pa-- but there’s no reason you can’t go back to a cc and get a pa degree. You’re better off going into pharma, patent law, or consulting</p>
<p>I would get the PhD because I want to be a scientist.</p>
<p>The only reason I’m thinking about PA is it would be something stable I could possibly do after a PhD that didn’t work out. I’m not sure how stable those jobs are in pharma, patent law or consulting. From people I’ve talked to, in pharma for example, PhDs are the first to be laid off in times of trouble.</p>
<p>well you obviously need a bit of experience (10+ years) from your phd, postdoc, and any prior academic/industry experience. nobody is just going to hand you 200K fresh out of grad school. i would say that academic/industry positions max out at 200K unless you’re exceptional (like a CSO or something).</p>
<p>Ookla, I get where you are coming from. The job market in the biomedical sciences is pretty saturated and the glut of postdocs won’t be going away any time soon.</p>
<p>I have looked into PA programs and found that they require nursing or other clinical care experience for application (or to be competitive in applying).</p>
<p>Other fall back plans I have investigated include: public health, infection control, epidemiologist, genetic counseling, pathologist asst. These are all careers in which a Phd in microbiology/molecular genetics would enhance your career. Unfortunately, these all also require another year and a half or two of classes (presumably to be taken while a postdoc).</p>
<p>Your choice of postdoc can also drastically alter what sort of jobs you can get afterwards. Despite the going philosophy in academia, not everyone should do a postdoc in a lab based on their publication record.</p>
<p>I currently have a PhD and currently a PA-S. I also completed a 2yr postdoc. Yes, normally PhDs head for MD after graduate school. However, after much deliberation PA was the best choice for me. At this point, I didn’t want commit to 10+ years of my life after already putting in 6-7yrs for the grad degree. This option leaves plenty of room for research, academic, and administrative job opportunities. </p>
<p>In addition, with the soon to be surplus of PAs in the workforce I will have an added edge with my background.</p>
<p>I just finished PA school. I decided to pursue this career after struggling to work into animal physiology research and then veterinary medicine. 6 months after starting PA school I was accepted to a really great vet program but I declined to just finish in the interest of time. Now that I’m finished I am somewhat regretting that decision. I gave up a dream to finally find something that would give me security and a more settled life. I think you should pursue your ultimate dream job first - even if it’s a time investment. Once that doesn’t pan out or you want to find something different, then think plan B.</p>
<p>My doubts regarding this are - 1) For a person who has completed his Phd in Neuroscience with a few good years of postdoctoral (PD) experience to boot, does a PA program really improves your scope if not guarantee it. 2) Secondly, I was thinking if pursuing an online Physician Assistance program would make more sense with so much experience. Or is the classroom course too good careerwise(job prospects), that pursuing the online program would be at one’s own peril. Because if the online program is good enough then a postdoctoral researcher could do it during his PD years itself and not put in a few more years for that sake.
I am currently pursuing Phd in Neuroscience. I plan to get some PD experience under my belt before I go ahead. I believe a PA program with subspeciality in Neurosurgery would be the way to go for me.
I’d like to know more about this if anybody has the answers. Thank you.</p>