what steps to take to become a doctor who does research

This question comes from the fact that i want to become a doctor that conducts research on illnesses. i wanted to ask if it is preferred to take biomedical sciences beforehand and then become a doctor so that i can then later conduct research and then work at a place like St Judes.

This question comes from the fact that i want to become a doctor that conducts research on illnesses. i wanted to ask if it is preferred to take biomedical sciences beforehand and then become a doctor so that i can then later conduct research and then work at a place like St Judes.

If you want to be a medical doctor that treats patients and does research, then I don't see any reason to do biomedical sciences first. I would just do a medical degree, do an intercalated degree during it, then apply for the SFP and try to work your way up the clinical academic career ladder.

(The post above mine is very good.)

I don't think there is no situation in which doing another degree before medicine is the better option. In terms of doing purely research in the biomedical regime, you don't need a medical degree to do this and you can do that with a biomedical science degree directly. Obviously though you won't be a medical doctor in the end and won't be treating anyone directly.

You can also go into research after (or even during) a medical degree. Plenty of medical schools offer intercalation opportunities where you can do some research. Ultimately you'd need to get a PhD, but you can do this after a medical degree (with or without intercalating). Some medical schools also have opportunities to intercalate a PhD (MBPhD schemes and similar).

Once you finish your medical degree I understand while you are in training there are formal schemes to facilitate the training of academic clinicians. There's Specialised Foundation Programme options which give you a block doing academic research, and Academic Clinical Fellowships which I gather have protected research time and can facilitate earning a PhD or MD(Res) along the way. There are also Clinical Lectureships which I understand combine training with researching and lecturing at a uni after the PhD.

Whether you can find a consultant post allowing you to build in academic time to your job plan may vary though. Note also some fields tend to be somewhat more academic and/or it's more common to do a PhD in order to be competitive applying to consultant posts (medical oncology I gather is quite research oriented and a lot of medical oncologists do PhDs as a result; on the other side things like interventional cardiology and neurosurgery often it's valuable to do a PhD to be more competitive for consultant posts in large tertiary centres).

But in any event, in principle any/all of those routes (SFP, ACF, CL) can facilitate a research career in basic science research or translational/clinical research, while also allowing you to train as a medical doctor to work as a clinician as well. I gather it's a fairly well trodden path (albeit, competitive!). I don't really see how a 3 year degree in biomedical sciences adds much to any of those routes, as the PhD is going to be the thing which develops your ability to do original academic research, not some undergraduate exams - the latter isn't research!

You’re better off pursuing a PhD in something biomed related if you just want to do research. You would still be a “doctor” by the end. No point being a physician if you don’t want to be working clinically.

thank you so much for your response, it has given me a better idea of what programmes i should be researching about and my pathway from here on out.