<p>Posted this in the grad school forums too: I am wondering what are people's thoughts on deciding between doing a biomedical grad school program vs doing an MD/PhD program for pursuing a career in biomedical research.</p>
<p>Well the main thing to ask yourself is do you want hands on contact with patients. If the answer is yes then you’ll need a clinical degree (i.e. MD). </p>
<p>Apart from direct clinical interaction there’s really nothing biomedical research wise that an MD/PhD knows/can do that a PhD can not.</p>
<p>I would just say the Biomedical PhD. I don’t think that you get a whole lot of added benefit for the MD/PhD. It really depends on what exactly you want to do in biomedical research.</p>
<p>Any pursuit which includes an ‘MD’ is far more valuable in the Clinical/Healthcare job market.</p>
<p>I have seen too many PhDs struggling to get and/or retain jobs when their degrees are not marketable to employers. If you like people interaction and are not afraid of blood and all, get an MD. Doesn’t matter what else you combine with your MD.</p>
<p>If you think you would want to do at least some clinical work, then get the MD. However, the degree alone does not help you much. You also have to complete a clinical residency. At that point you are eligible for an academic research job, with a clinical component. This not only helps you pick research topics, but it gives you direct access to patients. If you have a slow period with funding, you can support yourself on clinical income. Depending on your clinical field, you probably earn more money with the MD, even doing primarily research. Many MD/PhD programs include substantial tuition discounts, so you could end up with less debt than if you did MD alone. But the combination of the MD, on top of PhD, and the clinical training, will take much longer than the PhD alone.</p>