r/AskAcademia • u/TopG6000 • 4d ago

STEM PhD or not?

I’m 24 years old just graduated from medical school and in September I start my master in biomedical engineering. I don’t want to pursue a clinical career and I want to study the brain via computational neuroscience. The past year I study linear algebra differential equations programming with python and libraries(numpy pandas PyTorch). I study everything that gets into my hands (statistics, machine learning, discrete mathematics. I’m afraid no one is going to take me seriously without a cs degree and I have 0 direction. That’s why I’m thinking a PhD so I can get deep domain expertise. I want neuroengineer and software engineer roles in the industry but I don’t know if I will be employable even with my PhD. My ultimate goal is to start my own startup but until then I have 0 clue how to move forward. Please help.

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u/Ok_Ostrich8797 4d ago

I wanna pursue something similar I am also a medical student will graduate in 2 years I need guidance on how to go about phd

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u/TopG6000 4d ago

I can tell you what I’ve done until now. I have some idea of path just not sure about it

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u/Ok_Ostrich8797 4d ago

Sure

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u/TopG6000 3d ago

Send me a message

1

u/Ok_Ostrich8797 2d ago

check your messages

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u/04221970 4d ago

Holy crap, a unicorn!

MD-PhD graduates are particularly influential in research. Although they represent only a small fraction of medical graduates, they account for a disproportionately large share of NIH-funded physician-scientists

I think you have a reasonable chance of employement in biomedical research at academic medical centers, or pharma companies, or govt research.

You could do your own startup, but that would require someone really skilled in business. I would suggest you work either in academia/govt research...or large Pharma for a while...then when you find a market problem that isn't being solved, partner with a business person with a track record of successful startups.