<p>Hi--</p>
<p>I'm curious about the possibilities of teaching as an older MD. I really enjoy teaching and I teach now (MCAT/SAT stuff) but I think I would enjoy working as a doctor more than a teacher. However, they're both pretty appealing to me. Does anyone know how easy it is to teach at a medical school (I assume that's the most reasonable option) as a doctor... does it have to be a full time commitment? What are the options available?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>There are certainly plenty of volunteer faculty positions available, particularly if you live in a city with a medical school. I know my school pairs M1's and M2's with doctor's in the community who are volunteer's, who we are supposed to visit 5x a semester. I've learned a lot from my preceptor. I imagine other schools do similar things as a means of getting pre-clinical students some patient interaction. That's just one option that would not be "full-time".</p>
<p>Likewise my school (and others but not all) send third year students out across the state for 8 week family medicine rotations or in our case first years for 3 week primary care blocks to rural locations. There are doctors there that oversee and teach the students in those settings as well. It's largely dependent on the location and how many students are filing through on if it is "full" time or not. And again, this is fairly unique. I believe that all the clinical instruction at Florida State's Medical school is spread across the state, while a couple other state schools have one or two options for their students to get "out" of the medical center for a while.</p>
<p>Now if you are on the "clinical" faculty, then you would function as an attending to fellows, residents, interns, and medical students. This is <i>slightly</i> different than being a full professor at a medical school, at least in my opinion. These doctors are usually not heads of departments or specifically looking to be giving lectures to pre-clinical student, nor doing research. They're there to take care of patients, provide oversight, and in the process teach new and young physicians. </p>
<p>Finally there are the real professors who are doing some of the clinical teaching as above, doing research, and giving lectures and instruction to medical students in didactic sessions throughout all 4 years of medical school. These are very likely to be MD/PhD, though not always. At least as far as I can tell, if you are an alumnus of the school it's a little easier to get on faculty than if you want to do academic medicine somewhere else - prestige of your medical school does matter in academic medicine.</p>
<p>The distinctions between the last two options I mentioned will largely depend on the school I believe. Requirements will also vary by school.</p>