3rd Year Ophthalmology Switch

[ZBL]

On 2018-02-16 at 7:14 PM, Oussedik said:

How do you know I don't have much previous research experience? I've held many different research positions, from basic science, to translational, to clinical. Unfortunately, not all my experiences were as fruitful, publications-wise  .

Not all my papers were case reports and review articles  . On the contrary, I have many on-going original research projects - these take a long time to put together. I personally think if someone is self-motivated, he or she can publish many review articles and/or case reports. You just need to sit down and write. Review articles and case reports have an important place in academia.

I'll politely disagree. During my research fellowship I had the pleasant good fortune to interact with social psychologists, epidemiologists, statisticians, researchers from other field, etc. I also had the chance to attend many different research seminars. Furthermore, we are very fortunate in 2018 to have access to unlimited information. I love epidemiology and statistics - I asked our research staff if they recommend me any good statistical books to read. I read and I learned. If I had any questions I would ask the staff. If an individual is intrinsically motivated, they can learn a lot, and quite fast!

Academia is an afterthought? What do you mean! Dermatology is a rapidly evolving field. We have the great pleasure of sharing management with many other providers such as hematologists, allergists, rheumatologists, pathologists, radio-oncologists, etc... Furthermore, the advent of biologics has been one of the major advancements in medicine and has substantially improved patient outcomes. Add teledermatology and targeted melanoma treatment to the list, major advancements in dermatology are already present and on-going. Don't forget the recent advancements in cosmetic dermatology, which is only a small percentage of what a dermatologist does.

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Let me add, @ZBL, that I understand your concerns, but for a different reason. I think these one-year research fellowships, even though I completed one, can be detrimental for other reasons. If you are interested, I published in JAMA why people completing one-year research fellowships shouldn't necessarily be looked upon more favorably than those that didn't:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2635347?redirect=true

I apologize if I came off wrong there - that was not my intent. You have obviously been extremely productive, more so than the majority of other med students, and I really don’t mean to dismiss that.

I agree case reports and reviews have their place, but they are ultimately not what CIHR/NSERC are funding scientists to do, so doing a lot of these does not really substitute as research experience. 

What I did mean to emphasize was that, while information is all free to anyone, as you have mentioned, there’s a difference between picking up a book and learning it on your own, and being held to the standards of some form of regulation to prove you are an expert. No matter how intrinsically motivated someone is, that’s why you can’t do family medicine, have an interest in skin and call yourself a dermatologist, no matter how many derm books you read. It’s why you can’t be a lawyer without going to law school. It’s also why there are candidacy exams, coursework and a thesis defense in grad school. So I think there is a difference between a physician who does research, and a physician who is a scientist, and the latter requires some formal training - note this has nothing to do with how much you publish, just as it makes no difference for how many skin cases an FM sees. 

Regarding academia, I also did not mean to say that derm isn’t innovating. I’m sure there are new advancements in the field. I don’t know much about it, but from what I’ve seen, faculty members in derm really don’t do anywhere near as much original research as in other specialties like neuro, onc or cardio. I guess I really just meant that in despite of their research expectations to get in to derm, the staff for the most part, don’t seem to be as research oriented as other specialties. I guess someone must be involved for the new innovations, but on average it seems like there’s less original research going on in derm. 

In any case, again, im not too familiar with how things go in derm, and I’m just commenting from a research perspective. Again, I apologize if my earlier post came off wrong - was not my intent. 

Best of luck in derm!

[guy]

On 11/11/2017 at 1:50 AM, distressedpremed said:

Usually after they go unmatched, they use the year to build up their CV's/Resume's/clinical experience and re-apply. 

This is something I have been wondering about lately. Because I have also been told that unmatched applicants only have access to the second-iteration of the following CaRMS cycle (when there is usually zero opthal spots remaining). Is this untrue? Do unmatched applicants get to reapply at a second CaRMS cycle as first-iteration candidates?

[bearded frog]

Unmatched applicants are in first round again. If you match and then withdraw you are only second-round from then on.