<p>Would it be better to go for an MD or an MD/PhD program? I think the latter would be better, seeing as how you can be an MD and practice medicine for a few years, and once you get older/get tired of practicing, you have a teaching and/or research career to fall back on.</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>I had same question but was told that no difference between MD and MD/PhD in teaching job availability in medical schools although MD/PhD requires longer time. MD/PhD can pursure a career in a big phamaceutical company.</p>
<p>Plenty of professors of medicine have an M.D. and no Ph.D.</p>
<p>If you want to take care of patients, don’t bother trying to get a Ph.D.</p>
<p>If you want to be a researcher and professor, a Ph.D. might be helpful, but it’s not necessary.</p>
<p>I don’t think if “you get older/get tired of practicing,” you’re going to find academic medicine any more relaxing.</p>
<p>I’m curious about this question myself. I plan to go the PhD route as a research neuroscientist, and am also considering an MD as a backup. Would it be worth it to get an MD if I don’t plan on practicing medicine in a clinical setting?</p>
<p>There have been a lot of threads on this. It might be helpful to do a search. If you want to do medical research or go into academic medicine, an MD/Ph.D. might be helpful. If you want a career that integrates both clinical and research work, it is a good option. You need to really like school and have the perseverance to stay with it for many years. It’s far harder to get into an MD/Ph.D. program than an MD program.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/763912-md-ph-d-programs-vs-md-programs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/763912-md-ph-d-programs-vs-md-programs.html</a></p>
<p>Can you work in a hospital and conduct research?</p>
<p>Yes, predominantly at a teaching hospital. It is much tougher to conduct research at a community hospital because that isn’t their mission.</p>
<p>I am an MD PhD. You do not go into a PhD program unless you are seriously interested in pursuing a career as a physician scientist. You do not need a PhD to be a physician scientist but you need a period of full time serious research to be one. Having a PhD degree does help when it comes to applying for research grants. You definitely do not need a PhD to teach. Any MD can teach but a physician scientist is one that spends about 1-3 months a year doing clinical work and the rest of the time (other than maybe one to two clinics a week) stays in the laboratory having a group of investigators working with you. Life as a physician scientist is very interesting but very competitive and hard, especially in this economic climate when funding for research is extremely difficult to come by. A successful physician scientist will work in a university, and against most people’s impression, spend very little time teaching, other than mentoring junior scientist. Your expected efforts will primarily be in publications and obtaining research grants, and NOT providing clinical services.</p>