Is a Physician-Scientist Career Right for You?

Abstract

Early in your training, you will need to consider whether a physician-scientist career is right for you. To help you make this decision, this chapter examines the following questions: what is a physician-scientist? What types of research do physician-scientists conduct? How do you determine if you are suited for a career as a physician-scientist? And how do you become a physician-scientist? If you have already embarked on the physician-scientist pathway, I still encourage you to read this chapter. An important part of being a physician-scientist is to nurture the next generation. We train students in our laboratories, provide career advice to trainees, and serve as role models for the next generation. For these reasons, we need to articulate what a physician-scientist is, what we do, why it is important, and how aspiring physician-scientists can get started.

The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.

–Ben Stein