ilovescience Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Hello I have been confident about becoming a PA for the last 3-4 years and I am applying this upcoming cycle. I am interested in getting my PHD after working as a PA for a while. Natural medicine interests me as I would like to educate patients on natural and conventional medicine (sometimes you need both). Someone told me I should just go to med school; I have the grades, but I don't really want to start working so late (22 currently). What doors open for me as a PA with a PHD? I also love research and the idea of publishing articles to help the public and other medical professionals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted December 15, 2023 Moderator Share Posted December 15, 2023 A doctorate allows for leadership opportunities, research, teaching, etc. There are lots of available types of doctorate besides the PhD with options like DrPH, EdD, DHSc, DMSc, etc My doctorate opened up teaching options and international disaster team leadership positions that I would not have had without it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted December 21, 2023 Administrator Share Posted December 21, 2023 On 12/14/2023 at 8:21 AM, ilovescience said: Hello I have been confident about becoming a PA for the last 3-4 years and I am applying this upcoming cycle. I am interested in getting my PHD after working as a PA for a while. Natural medicine interests me as I would like to educate patients on natural and conventional medicine (sometimes you need both). Someone told me I should just go to med school; I have the grades, but I don't really want to start working so late (22 currently). What doors open for me as a PA with a PHD? I also love research and the idea of publishing articles to help the public and other medical professionals. It really depends on what you want out of a PhD. If you want to go into academia, the reputation of the school from which you earn your PhD matters, and none of the good ones actually let you work outside the program: You get a TA stipend that won't remotely dent your PA school loans. If you just want to be a doctor of some stripe for the reputation/ego, EMEDPA gave you a list of great options. Not saying this is a bad thing--if you say that ego isn't at all a part of seeking a doctorate, you're probably not being honest with yourself. If you want to do research, do that first, or do an MD/PhD program. "Natural" medicine is a relatively poorly received topic in allopathic medical schools, not sure whether functional medicine would be more acceptable. I had a TCM practitioner in my PA class, and she was not happy with how alternative medicine was dissed at random times out of a place of prejudice rather than evidence. However, all medicine started as "alternative" until it became accepted, and we're seeing EBM lose status because of how much politics and money drive both grant and publishing agendas. I finished my DMSc this summer, and am already 60% finished with an online PhD in health sciences--about half the credits from my DMSc transferred, giving me a great start. I'm seriously considering dropping the PhD efforts just because of how all-consuming running my own--successful and growing, so far--practice is. I'd love to do research, but as a white male I have little to no prospect of being hired as other than adjunct faculty anywhere, and practice ownership is kind of growing on me. That is, right now, money is no barrier to ongoing doctoral studies, but time absolutely is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iconic Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 What is a PhD in Natural medicine exactly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68WEMTto65DPAC Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 (edited) 15 hours ago, iconic said: What is a PhD in Natural medicine exactly? An expensive way to learn about herbal teas. Jk!! I really don't know. @ilovescience, why not go to medical school and find a way to supplement your medical education with natural medicine education (a certificate program or something like that) instead of getting your doctoral education in natural medicine? I'm not quite sure that going to PA school solely because it's shorter is a good tradeoff if you know going into it that it won't offer the opportunities you really want and will have to do additional schooling. Why not get all of the schooling out of the way upfront? Edited December 22, 2023 by 68Whereisthewhiskey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted December 23, 2023 Moderator Share Posted December 23, 2023 On 12/20/2023 at 11:15 PM, rev ronin said: I finished my DMSc this summer, and am already 60% finished with an online PhD in health sciences--about half the credits from my DMSc transferred, giving me a great start. I am surprised they accepted transfer credits from a previously completed degree. Please PM me and let me know what program this is. If they also have a DrPH and take my DHSc credits I could be convinced to do another 10-15 credits for doctorate #2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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