Medical School into research?

Hi guys,
Just wondering, If I want to go into research, would it be best to go through Medical school and get an MD, or doing maybe a chemistry/ biochemistry degree, and getting a PhD?

Obviously clinical medicine is of interest to me, but im also interested into cancer research, and this is what I would want to go into.

Would doing an MD be of less importance since a lot of this is clinical based, or could I combine clinical work with some research?

Would it be possible heading into full time research after completing the MD, as a Consultant Physician or do I have to complete another PhD after that?

Thanks for all the help guys!

Edit: Sorry M.B. variants as pointed out by Kinkerz, I clearly have not done research into this at all lol

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

Kinkerz

15

In the U.K., an M.D. isn't the primary medical qualification (M.B. Ch.B. / M.B. B.S. / variants). An M.D. is a two year (usually) postgraduate medical research degree.

If you want a career in basic science laboratory research, your best bet would be do to a Life Sciences B.Sc. and go on to further study in that direction. Basic science research as a medical doctor isn't that easy to work into your career. Most researching doctors focus on translational sciences and clinical research. It's not impossible, there are doctors who are involved in basic science research, but if this is what you want to do, it's much more accessible from a B.Sc.-to-Ph.D. (sometimes with a Master's in between) route.

Reply 2

Dinosaurus_Rex

OP

10

Thankyou very much for you opinion, but I do like going into clinical, yet still do some non-clinical research, as I have heard many research based jobs do not earn as much money as High reputation doctors?

Reply 3

Rooster523

17

Original post by Dinosaurus_Rex

Thankyou very much for you opinion, but I do like going into clinical, yet still do some non-clinical research, as I have heard many research based jobs do not earn as much money as High reputation doctors?

http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/academic-programmes

There's your ticket.

Reply 4

Kinkerz

15

Original post by Dinosaurus_Rex

Thankyou very much for you opinion, but I do like going into clinical, yet still do some non-clinical research, as I have heard many research based jobs do not earn as much money as High reputation doctors?

That is possible to do. Translational sciences encompasses most of the 'non-clinical' research that doctors do. If you're interested, look up things such as: genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc. But even that's not quite the same as hardcore basic bench science.

Most researchers don't earn as much money as doctors do, no, but they can still earn a solid salary and if it's what you want to do, the difference in money might not be quite as important.

Reply 5

Dinosaurus_Rex

OP

10

Original post by Rooster523

http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/academic-programmes

There's your ticket.

Theres a lot of blag in this website, is it ok if you give me a basic introduction to this? I dont understand the gist of this, cheers lol

Reply 6

Dinosaurus_Rex

OP

10

Original post by Kinkerz

That is possible to do. Translational sciences encompasses most of the 'non-clinical' research that doctors do. If you're interested, look up things such as: genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc. But even that's not quite the same as hardcore basic bench science.

Most researchers don't earn as much money as doctors do, no, but they can still earn a solid salary and if it's what you want to do, the difference in money might not be quite as important.

Thanks. I am still unsure what to do at the moment, so instead of going into research straight away and closing nearly all my doors to go into medicine, I could go into medicine and from there go into research too, reckon thats a safe option?

Reply 7

Kinkerz

15

Original post by Dinosaurus_Rex

Thanks. I am still unsure what to do at the moment, so instead of going into research straight away and closing nearly all my doors to go into medicine, I could go into medicine and from there go into research too, reckon thats a safe option?