Tag Archives: academic medicine

Low MCAT Ruins Listener’s Med School Plans. Or Does It?

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Med schools denied this listener’s application, so he worries his low-and-not-improving MCAT will mean he’ll have to settle for a non-research career

TL;DR

  • “Cuddles” worries that he can’t be a research MD if he doesn’t get into an allopathic med school due to his low MCAT. But is that really the problem?
  • Can osteopaths be academic (research) physicians?
  • Dave gives his co-hosts a pop quiz on old time remedies after learning chimps may be practicing folk medicine.
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Listener “Cuddles” seems to be panicking after he didn’t get in to any of the medical schools he applied to. He’s worried that if he can’t get in to an MD school attached to an academic health center he won’t be able to fulfill his dream of doing medical research. He fears he might have to “settle” for a DO school to get in anywhere with his low MCAT score. M1s Matt Engelken, Noah Wick, Mallory Kallish, and M4 Nick Lind try to talk Cuddles down from his panicky state.

Dave also wants to take these fancy physicians down a peg after reading in the New York Times that chimps have been found practicing folk medicine. Who’s to say that they won’t develop vaccines and MRI machines in the future, and topple doctors from their lofty place atop the medical heap? So Dave makes them take a pop quiz on folk medicine.

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How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime  or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

Continue reading Low MCAT Ruins Listener’s Med School Plans. Or Does It?

Academic vs. Community MDs: Who Has It Better? Ft. Santa Claus

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Among the many choices med students make is between community medicine and academic medicine.

TL;DR

  • Doctors who practice community medicine make more than academic physicians (sometimes lots more).
  • As it often does, the question of which to choose depends on which aspect of each you can live without.
  • The co-hosts also visit with Santa, because Dave’s been naughty, to answer pop quiz questions on holiday crimes.
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Santa Claus is on hand for this episode to help listener Josh with his dilemma: which life should Josh choose, that of a community physician or an academic physician? As M4 Emma Barr, M1 Matt Engelken, MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, and M4 Madeline Cusimano see it, there’s lots to consider. For instance, do you want to teach and do research? Do you want to make a lot of money? What kind of patient population do you want to work with?

Plus, Santa gives the co-hosts a pop quiz on weird holiday crimes.

We Want to Hear From You

How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime  or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

Continue reading Academic vs. Community MDs: Who Has It Better? Ft. Santa Claus

Md/PhD worries: Transitioning to the Lab

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Next semester Madi Wahlen will enter the PhD phase of her MD/PhD journey, and the though to that transition makes her kind of nervous. Fortunately, both she and Aline Sandouk were on this week’s episode, allowing space for Madi (and co-hosts Levi Endelman and AJ Chowdhury) to ask Aline questions about her experiences transitioning to the PhD phase. How did she handle the transition? How did she find a lab to work in? What kinds of specialties to MD/PhD students typically go into? Aline knows!

Reminder to US Listeners: Vote! Time is running out to get your absentee or mail-in vote counted. Head on over to http://ballotpedia.org to research candidates, find out how voting works in your state at http://vote.org, and know that Dave and The Short Coats love you for your engagement in the process of choosing our leaders.

And Dave gives the gang a fill-in-the-blanks quiz on weird research he found. What do mosquitos and people both hate enough to stop having sex? What do coked-up bees and people tend to do more of? And what preference do chickens and people have in common? Dave has the answers.

We Want to Hear From You

How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime  or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

Recess Rehash: Is Academic Medicine Right For You?

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Photo by simpleinsomnia

[SCP has been given a week off–thanks, pandemic/economic collapse!  We’ll be back next week, but here’s a pre-pandemic rerun to enjoy.]

Academic medicine–in which a physician works at a university and may have research and/or teaching duties in addition to patient care–is but one of the fulfilling options available to medical students.  What’s that lifestyle like?  That’s the question an anonymous listener (who we’ll call Dr. Piledhigh Erandeeper) wanted our help answering. Fortunately we have Miranda Schene and Sahaana Arumugam (both in our Medical Scientist Training Program, so they know a thing or two about academic medicine) on hand to tell us–including co-hosts M1 Brandon Bacalzo and M2 Mason LaMarche–what they know about this career option.

Plus Dave puts his co-hosts through a game of Doctor Forehead, featuring some of the more interesting oddball medical stories he ran across prepping for this week’s show (see the next section for those links).

This Week in Medical News

The President’s new budget could be another nail in the coffin for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.  Mayo applicants get acceptance letters that the institution later had to rescind, causing one of the disgruntled victims to create a crowdfunding campaign.  And if you’re in the market for “global elite” DNA, then…well, you’ve already missed your chance.  And from our game:

We Want to Hear From You

Is there a MD career niche you want to know more about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

Continue reading Recess Rehash: Is Academic Medicine Right For You?

Is Academic Medicine Right For You?

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Photo by simpleinsomnia

Academic medicine–in which a physician works at a university and may have research and/or teaching duties in addition to patient care–is but one of the fulfilling options available to medical students.  What’s that lifestyle like?  That’s the question an anonymous listener (who we’ll call Dr. Piledhigh Erandeeper) wanted our help answering. Fortunately we have Miranda Schene and Sahaana Arumugam (both in our Medical Scientist Training Program, so they know a thing or two about academic medicine) on hand to tell us–including co-hosts M1 Brandon Bacalzo and M2 Mason LaMarche–what they know about this career option.

Plus Dave puts his co-hosts through a game of Doctor Forehead, featuring some of the more interesting oddball medical stories he ran across prepping for this week’s show (see the next section for those links).


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This Week in Medical News

The President’s new budget could be another nail in the coffin for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.  Mayo applicants get acceptance letters that the institution later had to rescind, causing one of the disgruntled victims to create a crowdfunding campaign.  And if you’re in the market for “global elite” DNA, then…well, you’ve already missed your chance.  And from our game:

We Want to Hear From You

Is there a MD career niche you want to know more about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

Continue reading Is Academic Medicine Right For You?