<p>Is there any advantage to being an MD and PhD versus being just an MD?</p>
<p>I think most (all?) people interested in going into research will get a PhD and MD. For a practicing physician, a MD would be enough.</p>
<p>"Is there any advantage to being an MD and PhD versus being just an MD?"</p>
<p>Free School, Money for Research, and the ability,background, to ask for research grants in the future.</p>
<p>If you can get into an MD/PhD, well, school will be free. Nevertheless, you will be in school for an extra three to four years, and that doesn't include residency. This option is great for those who want, and have the capacity, to do research for the remaining of their careers -or so I've been told.</p>
<p>Oh did I mention that getting into this program is much harder than the regular MD admissions? It's ridiculously tough.</p>
<p>Just my 0.00002 cents</p>
<p>How would someone have time to be both a doctor and a researcher? Would they have to do something that is not as work intensive like being an eye doctor?</p>
<p>Not all doctors are practicing physicians, in fact there's generally a split those with MD's that use their degree for private practice and those that generally do research. Some researchers may do some hospital work as well as research or some(the majority) will be professors teaching medical school courses or any science courses at a university where they can get funding for their research.</p>
<p>A MD/PhD who is involved with research does not routinely see patients (other than the patients that are part of their research). </p>
<p>The whole idea is that you combine your clinical skills as an MD and the analytical skills of a PhD to advance the cause of medicine. A researcher would never get the right mix of patients if they relied only upon their own practice to supply them and a clinician would never have the time to do proper research while keeping office hours.</p>
<p>Do researchers generally make around the same as practicing MDs or do they make more/less? I haven't been able to find much info on that. Not that it matters much, I'm just curious.</p>
<p>Just a random note... When I was talking to a doctor during an interview, he told me that in his case, research was 80% and practice was 20% as an MD/PhD-holding professor of endocrinology at Northwestern. This is obviously one person, but as other people have mentioned, actual medical practice would probably be limited to a large degree.</p>
<p>I'm guessing the average salary for a researcher is less but probably not by much, the salaries for the most part are probably pretty consistent for researchers, whereas with practicing physicians there are probably quite a few making less than researchers, but many making more, and some making double or three times as much.</p>