<p>Can neuroscience be considered a specialization of medical school? My real passion is in learning how the brain works but I'm considering good med schools for hopes of a comfortable income in the future. But if there is a way i can either (1) directly deal with brains or (2) do research on brains; while graduating Med then that would be a double-plus for me, if possible.</p>
<p>Sure. Neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatriy, and neuroradiology all deal with some aspect of the brain and the diagnoses/treatment of diseases in that area. You wouldn't specialize in med school. You'd specialize after med school, during residency.</p>
<p>I think you need to see look at your interests and see if an MD is really what you want. It sounds to me like you're stuck deciding between going for an MD or a PhD. </p>
<p>As NCG has pointed out, you'll have to specialize after 4 years of medical school. And medical school is going to be expensive and teach you a lot of things that may not be relevant to you (you're going to spend considerable time learning about things like cervical cancer and diabetes and cholecystitis and hemolytic anemias and contraceptive options and vaccination schedules, etc). Now that doesn't mean you wouldn't be able to do research on the brain if you were an MD, far from it. But what I'm getting at is the fact that MD's tend to approach research from a different angle than PhD's. Physicians are trained to diagnose and treat and I think that makes a significant impact on the way they think about research. If you're more concerned with really how the brain works - maybe a PhD is more appropriate.</p>
<p>There is considerable overlap between the two, and many MD's and PhD's work together on problems or projects that might be of interest to you. But what I think you need to look at is if going to medical school is absolutely the right path.</p>