MD in Business

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
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<p>Isn't there a large number of medical doctors who have never practiced on their own, but they work in businesses, such as consultants for certain high tech companies, such as biotech organizations for example.</p>

<p>Why isn't this route as common? Is it more, for those who are specialized in the sciences? Would you have to be a lot more qualified in the sciences to get jobs like these?</p>

<p>It seems like a more interesting route after going to med school. And you don't have to worry about the mal practice insurance, etc. I'm sure they would be paid a good/high salary as well. </p>

<p>Can anyone elaborate on this?</p>

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<p>bump******</p>

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<p>there are quite a few phd/mba and md/mba in my dad's office at nih (tech transfer). lots of having to work with medical and scientific researchers (hence where the phd or md comes in great use) as well as with businesspeople (where the mba comes in handy).</p>

<p>:)</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Isn't there a large number of medical doctors who have never practiced on their own, but they work in businesses, such as consultants for certain high tech companies, such as biotech organizations for example.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I wouldn't say that there is a LARGE number. But there certainly are a number of such people. </p>

<p>It's not just about being consultants for high-tech companies like biotechs and pharmaceutical companies. Many biotech/pharma executive officers are MD's. Granted, a lot of them also have PhD's (hence, they did MD/PhD's).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amgen.com/about/leadership_team_roger_perlmutter.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.amgen.com/about/leadership_team_roger_perlmutter.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.gene.com/gene/about/management/exec/desmond-hellman.jsp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gene.com/gene/about/management/exec/desmond-hellman.jsp&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.genzyme.com/corp/structure/bios_meeker.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.genzyme.com/corp/structure/bios_meeker.asp&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.genzyme.com/corp/structure/bios_moscicki.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.genzyme.com/corp/structure/bios_moscicki.asp&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.merck.com/about/management_committee/aam.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.merck.com/about/management_committee/aam.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>However, what I am saying is that if you just want to have a career in business, I don't know that bothering with an MD degree is the best way to go about it. After all, while the above links demonstrate that clearly some people with medical degrees advance to high executive positions, the fact is, the management of those companies are still dominated by people who are not medical doctors.. I'll put it to you this way. Of all the big pharmaceutical companies out there, the CEO's of only a few of them are medical doctors. And even many, if not most biotechs are headed by people who are not medical doctors. The point is, if you just want a management career, even with a biotech or a pharmaceutical company, it's probably more efficient to just go work there right after undergrad and try to rise to management, or perhaps after getting your MBA. Getting there by way of a medical degree is a rather roundabout way of doing things.</p>

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<p>"The point is, if you just want a management career, even with a biotech or a pharmaceutical company, it's probably more efficient to just go work there right after undergrad and try to rise to management, or perhaps after getting your MBA."</p>

<p>But most people (95% approximately) that want to "rise into managment" never do. I think it's wise to get a MD (job security and great pay), and the try to see if you're CEO material at work....you may not like it, or may not have the right talent. </p>

<p>The best way to gauge if you're CEO material , without actually stepping into the working world, is this:</p>

<p>1> Are you a born leader of a somewhat large social group?
2> Are you analytical skills great? (e.g. did you get 1400 or higher on the SAT, M+V)
3> Can you sell things to people?</p>

<p>..if you're not comfortable with all those items above, you may not like being a CEO, but you can still become a very highly paid doctor if you have an MD degree.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
But most people (95% approximately) that want to "rise into managment" never do.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That is true, but you can usually tell within a short period of time of working whether you have what it takes to advance in a company or not. So you spend a year working, you see what real managers do at that company, you find out you don't like it or you don't have what it takes. Fine, fair enough. Now you can think about going to med-school or whatever. So you delay your medical career by a year. So what? At least, now you know what you want and don't want. </p>

<p>Take the alternative. You say that you should just go and become a doctor. By that I mean that you should go through the entire med-school track then followed by the entire internship/residency track, then possibly the fellowship track to become fully Board certified. After all, it is not easy to take a break in between any of those steps (i.e. it's not like you can graduate from med-school, then take a year off working a regular job, find out you don't like it, and then go back and get a residency and simply pick up where you left off, because your year off is going to make you less competitive for a residency slot). That's anywhere from 7-12 years straight of medical training that you have to complete. So now, let's say that you do that, you find out that you want to be a manager after all. Well, you just spent a lot of years getting a medical credential that you won't really use then. Like I said, you don't need to be a licensed medical doctor to get into management, even of a bio/pharma company. </p>

<p>So think about what's efficient. You go work for a company, find out you don't want to become a manager, so you lose a year, maybe 2. The other way is, you go through all that medical training, and then later on find out that you want to be a manager? </p>

<p>I'll put it to you another way. You say that you may not know if you like being a manager. True. But on the other hand, you may not like being a practicing physician either. What happens if you go through all those years of medical training only to find out at the end that you don't like to practice medicine? When you look at it that way, which method is really riskier? </p>

<p>And I said it before, I'll say it again. Don't go into medicine for the money. Truly. If all you care about is money, then go become an investment banker or a related occupation like asset/wealth management. Those guys make far far more money than do doctors, and with less schooling. You should go to medicine because you really want to heal people, not for the money. The money in medicine is really not all that impressive compared to all the schooling and training you need to get it.</p>