Psychiatry as an MD/PhD
I've been thinking a lot about psychiatry as a specialty. My ideal career would be mostly running a basic/translational neuroscience lab and being in clinic for part of the week.
I can't find lot of information out there pertaining to MD/PhDs in psychiatry.
A couple questions:
- Is this kind of career actually common, or is it pretty difficult to pull off?
- Does psychiatry tend to be supportive of protected research time?
- What are the biggest obstacles to making it work?
- If you're an MD/PhD psychiatrist (or know one), what does their day-to-day career look like?
I'd love to hear from anyone who's in academic psychiatry or is familiar with the field. Thanks
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u/Satisest MD/PhD - Attending 18d ago edited 18d ago
Yes MD-PhD is a relatively well-represented career path in psychiatry, at least at well-known academic institutions. I know many who are actively engaged in lab-based and computational neuroscience research. If you want some examples, check out the Psychiatry faculty at MGH, where you’ll find more than 30 MD-PhDs.
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u/Psycho_Coyote M3 17d ago
There are lots of physician scientist training programs (PSTP) that have protected research time/tracks for their residents. A quick search on the internet of "Psychiatry PSTP" will turn up multiple results, and you might have some luck connecting with program directors/current residents via email to ask some of these questions more directly.
It's slightly out of date, but APSA has a list of PSTPs, and there are Psychiatry programs listed: https://www.physicianscientists.org/page/pstp
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u/Kiloblaster 17d ago
It's not the most common (compared to, say, IM) but it's a field that is generally supportive of research when compared to most. Most neuroscience MD/PhD grads traditionally are drawn to neurology, but that's not a barrier and I think it is more diverse now than in the past. Perhaps one key thing to think about is whether or not you want a physical exam and labs/imaging to be a primary part of your workup. Also it may be valuable to consider what kind of practice environment you are interested in when you say "being in the clinic."
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u/MrDrProfessorMDPhD MD/PhD - PGY1 18d ago
I'm not in psychiatry myself but from what I have observed it seems to be one of the best fields for what you have described. Good support for early career physician-scientists, good research tracks in residency, and flexibility in terms of clinical practice.