Neuroscience and infecious Diseases...oh my

Graduate School
1

<p>So i have a question for all of you smart people. This question is purely hypothetical but if you have data, or links to support it...or just first had accounts/experiences in your school that back this up, I'd love to talk about it.</p>

<p>I started with public health wanting to do Epidemiology and really not understanding what it was. When I understood it more, I realized I was really only interested in infectious diseases...their use, threat, and just understanding them more. I switched my major to psychology and I'm in a neuroscience lab...why? Cuz I enjoy it and it fits all the things i want to do with my life (I took a semester off to figure this out and I'm happy with my choice..more than happy it's my passion). I'm working in a neuropsychiatric lab right now which is fun too.</p>

<p>But here is the thing. I can't get away from my love of diseases, infectious diseases. So my question is this:</p>

<p>Can I combine them after grad school. My list of colleges allow me to either combine programs with other biology departments that have a strong infectious disease component, or have a training program/focus on bioterrostism and their subjects of disease agents...which is really what I'm interested in. After grad school, will I be able to combine them? Focus my research on neurological focus and diseases? I'm reading papers and articles about the 'Neurobiology of infectious diseases' and there seems to be a growing focus on that, but I wanted to make sure even if the field is small there is still something I can do with this extra work i'm putting myself through.</p>

<p>I'm guessing my focus would have to focus on diseases, infectious or that have infectious agents that affect the nervous system and such parts of the body...correct? or no?</p>

2

<p>yeah look into pathobiology programs</p>

3

<p>Of course; there’s a big boon in neuroimmunology. You can study that in:</p>

<p>-A neuroscience department
-A biology department
-A neurobiology program, which may be it’s own department or may be a joint PhD program between a neuroscience department and a biology department
-A variety of biomedical science programs. For example, here at Columbia - my grad school - we have PhD programs in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Neurobiology and Behavior, Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine, and Microbiology, Immunology, and Infection (among other programs). The Neurobiology and Behavior program is a combination of faculty and classes from several different departments.
-An epidemiology program/department. You could study the epidemiology of neurological diseases. However, if you wanted to do more hands-on bench science work, you’d probably be happier in one of the above type programs.</p>

4

<p>After graduate school, you would apply to a lab, rather than a program, for a postdoctoral position. So you could combine your interests if you found a lab that studies the neurobiology of infectious disease, or if you found a lab that studies one or the other and would be happy to have you start a project that looked at both.</p>

<p>You can study whatever you want as a postdoc (and as a graduate student), you just have to find an advisor who will support you and your research project.</p>