passtudent Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Hi everyone! I'm a newcomer to the forum, and I'm looking for the opinions/guidance from some established PAs. I tried searching the forum and didn't find anything on this topic. Some pretext for the question... I'm currently enrolled in a PhD program for Language and Cognitive Science. I'm interested in what we can learn about the organization of language in the brain from neuropathological patient populations. Specifically, I am interested in the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease. Ideally, I want use my understanding of Language and the brain as a way of developing better clinical tests to diagnose early AD, so that these people may get earlier treatments to help stave off symptoms. On some level I believe that I need a clinical leg-to-stand-on if you will. Training that will allow me to better serve the patients I want to help. I feel that PA might be the right route for me to make a hybrid of patient care and research. I don't have any desire to go to medical school, since I don't believe you learn to treat the whole patient there. I'm also not into the idea of medicine for money...but I do need to be financially secure. I don't know if you know any PhDs but it is increasingly impossible to find a job in academia (which is really all that I'd be qualified for after getting a PhD...last I checked, if I had my PhD tomorrow there would be 17 jobs in the entire country that I might be qualified for...and so would 200-400 other people...). So on some level this is about getting a job. But I think it's more about finding a place where I can both care about my patients, as well as learn from them to provide better treatment for the next. The question for the Professional PAs, I suppose, is whether or not this is even possible. Do any of you know, or are any of you out there PA, PhDs? (That is, not a PhD of PA, but a PA with a PhD in some other field?) Or how about PAs in research? Am I totally crazy? -- (For those curious of my credentials, and plausibility of being accepted to PA school, I have a B.S. in Biology, and I've worked for 5 years as an EMT, so I have plenty of HCE :) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
passtudent Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Does anyone have any kind of input at all...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lead Pipe Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 try the professional pa forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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