I have a question about getting a medical degree, but not practicing. If your interest is in medical research, can you go to medical school, get the degree, and not do a residency? The idea would be to do research at a university, biotech company, or a pharmaceutical company. The quick answer is, go for a PhD, but that may be too specialized. I know there are dual degree options (MD or DO with a PhD), and my understanding is that these programs are free, with the program paying you a small stipend (can anyone confirm any of that).
Is it a doable option going for just the medical degree and skipping residency?
Would the admissions committee frown on someone wanting to enter med school, but not wanting to go into practice?
Is research even a viable option without the PhD? Will there be limitations?
As always, any and all advice, suggestions, and thoughts are greatly appreciated.
I think you will find that the number of schools not offering some combined degree options are steadily dimenishing. And, if you are applying to MD/PhD or DO/PhD programs, the AdComs can’t help but expect you to be heavily research oriented. Now, I would come out & firmly declare that I had no interest in residency/licensure & only research, not because they might be offended, but because you are overdeclaring your “destiny” without having the experience to substantiate it.
There are significant numbers of physicians out there who are exclusively researchers. Whether or not they were required to do a residency or obtain full licensure, I cannot say. I do know that there are a number of business/consultation styled jobs out there, that tend to be quite lucritive, available & you would not have fret over Boards or licensure for those.
If medical research is what you’re truly interested in then the MSTP, or medical scientist training program is the way to go. It does offer a combined MD/PHD. They WILL pay for everything, and offer you a small stipend to live on. Once you have completed it(and it does take about 10-12 years), you can go on to medical research, or even go into practice if you desire. On the down side, it is VERY competetive. Moreso than straight MD. In addition to the grades, you have to show authored research during undergrad- that’s in addition to the standard MD requirements. And your grades will need to stand out among the standard med school apps.
That being said, if it’s what you want to do, you will come out of it virtually debt fre, and I’m sure no doubt have your choice of jobs in the medical research field. I was considering it myself-I have an avid interest in cancer research. But I don’t know if I could be competetive enough to get in. When my mcats done, I’ll decide if it’s worth trying for.
As far as just a straight MD to do reasearch- well depending on your specialty you’ll have opportunities to do research anyhow- but if you truly want to make a career of it, the MD/PHD is the way to go. Just depends on weather you want to make that much of a commitment.
here’s a link to a sample curriculum for majoring in molecular biology,genetics, and biochemisty-what I would go for if I decided to pursue this path.
http://www.bio.uci.edu/academic/grad/mbgb.html
I have actually been surprised at the number of my straight MD classmates who intend to spend their careers doing only research. I didn’t even know this was an option, but many of our professors these first two years have been MD only who strictly do research, some focusing mainly on bench, others clincial. Not having been associated with the academic side of medicine at all before starting this endeavor, I have been amazed at the breadth of possibilities that are available, in that not everyone hangs out their shingle in a private practice. However, all of the MDs who have taught us and my classmates have all completed residency or will. I think it goes along the lines of more indepth training in a particular field.
Not that this was a particularyly insightful post, but just some observations to a novice.
Tara
having an MD will open so many doors it is sick. I know someone who was about to graduate from school and do the match when a Brokerage firm offered him a chance to head up a new division looking into BioTech companies and delving into “look-ins” on Pharm companies developing new drugs. They offered to pay off his loans and provide himm with a cush job starting at $160k/yr. Escalating with each year in what the company did in new investments in BioEngineering/Tech sectors. He is now making around $500k/annually after 12 yrs on the job. Not bad…and he still gives clinical seminars on some topic or other.
Hi Bacmedic,
If your interest is in medical research, can you go to medical school, get the degree, and not do a residency?
+Neither an internship nor a residency are required to call oneself an MD. That degree is conferred by the med school whereas board certification (in a specialty) is a result of completing a residency and sitting for/and passing:-) boards.
The idea would be to do research at a university, biotech company, or a pharmaceutical company.
++If you opt for the former, university, they would like to have their md researchers board certified in a specialty so that you can do a few days per month in the clinics and the university will benefit financially. It also provides renumeration, easing the research grant quest.
The quick answer is, go for a PhD, but that may be too specialized. I know there are dual degree options (MD or DO with a PhD), and my understanding is that these programs are free, with the program paying you a small stipend (can anyone confirm any of that).
++Yes, during the research/grad school years, combined program students get a tuition waiver and a NIH stipend–currently around $18,000./yr.
Is it a doable option going for just the medical degree and skipping residency?
++Certainly doable, but you might have to do an extended post-doc, upon graduation, to perform research.
Would the admissions committee frown on someone wanting to enter med school, but not wanting to go into practice?
++Most no, pick a “primary care med school” and there might be a problem with some interviewers.
Is research even a viable option without the PhD? Will there be limitations?
++Research is viable w/o the PhD, but it is becoming a dinosaur. FWIW, my boss was at Einstein (one year overlap w/ Howard Dean), got his MD, did post-doc and heads up the division. I think that is harder these days…
As always, any and all advice, suggestions, and thoughts are greatly appreciated.
++Best of luck,
Charles
Hi there,
You can do practically anything with an MD/DO as they are terminal degrees but to be truly competitive in bench research (and clinical for that matter) you need to have a Ph.D. Most pharm companies want the best trained individuals that they can find and thus will take an Ph.D with a post doc over an MD with just medical school everytime. It takes far less time to get a Ph.D researcher up to speed and functional than an MD.
My uncle, a cardiologist, worked for the Cardio-Renal Division of the FDA after he retired from practice. He lead a division of a group of Ph.Ds and MDs but was recruited for the fact that he had practiced cardiology for almost 45 years. The feds wanted his experience in clinical medicine for their division. WHile his job was mostly administrative, he thived at the research bench.
Yes, you can do research without residency but you should plan on getting a Ph.D to do so. There are too many folks around that will be more competitive to a research division (MD/DO with Ph.D or Ph.D in biomedical science). You should also plan on tracking early into research while you are in medical school so that you make some contacts that you can use after graduation.
Without doing a residency, you will not be eligible for getting a liscence to practice in most states. You have to do at least one year of practice to sit for USMLE Step III. (I do not know if the same is true for COMLEX III) You can’t obtain a permanent liscence without taking USMLE Step III on the allopathic side. You cannot “moonlight” a couple of days in any clinic in Virginia without a permanent medical liscense.
If you actually hate the idea of doing a residency, you should also look into doing a post doc position at NIH so that you can track early. You can get some valuable experience and make some research contacts there. You will not be able to practice medicine but you will be able to do research.
Natalie 
Quote:
I have a question about getting a medical degree, but not practicing. If your interest is in medical research, can you go to medical school, get the degree, and not do a residency? The idea would be to do research at a university, biotech company, or a pharmaceutical company. The quick answer is, go for a PhD, but that may be too specialized. I know there are dual degree options (MD or DO with a PhD), and my understanding is that these programs are free, with the program paying you a small stipend (can anyone confirm any of that).
Is it a doable option going for just the medical degree and skipping residency?
Would the admissions committee frown on someone wanting to enter med school, but not wanting to go into practice?
Is research even a viable option without the PhD? Will there be limitations?
As always, any and all advice, suggestions, and thoughts are greatly appreciated.
If you want to do bench research in academics or industry, you should get a PhD or an MD/PhD. Start getting some laboratory research experience during undergraduate years if possible. If you are studying at a university that has a medical school, you could try to arrange to do research in a medical school researcher’s lab. When I was doing my PhD in a med school, we often had undergrads doing projects. You may be included on publications if you can contribute to a publishable project. Other opportunities may be available in special summer research program (I think efex did a special summer program at Mayo for eg. during undergrad. There are also other options)
If you want to do clinical research get an MD or MD/PhD. When Pharma or biotech companies hire MDs they are usually looking for someone with specialty training - this is more the case now than previously. They often also want someone who is board certified because they want someone who can be medically/legally responsible on medical issues- esp. safety related issues. Areas that you can also specialize in are epidemiology, pharmacovigilance, health economics, functional genomics for eg. in addition to therapeutic specialties.
If you want to work in business, you can be the clinical expert advising the business people or you can get an MBA along with your MD.
I’m a PhD who spent several years in bench and clinical research, including working in academics and pharma. I also worked for a while in a brokerage firm in the venture capital dept. researching biotech start-ups and was a psychiatric social worker years ago.