Comments on: Non-Clinical Opportunities for Physicians

By: xunera

xunera — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:59:24 +0000

hello everyone. this is a great post. i graduated from medical school a year ago and i have 9 months of clinical experience. i want to persue a non clinical career but im very confused about what options i have. do i need to pass the license exam of usa or australia to do so? do i need another degree like mba or mph for this? any help would be highly appreciated

By: Dr. Payam Ebizadeh

Dr. Payam Ebizadeh — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:51:05 +0000

Teaching….. There is alot of opportunities for physicians who are looking to do non-clinical work. You can teach for Prep courses helping medical students and residents prepare for their USMLE Exams. It’s a great experience and very rewarding. I am a Radiologist and now involved in recruiting for Kaplan Medical. If you are interested in finding more info you can contact me at:

payam.ebizadeh@kaplan.com

By: anonymous#?

anonymous#? — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:41:51 +0000

Dr. Kim, thanks for your site!
I fell ill in medical school with a rare neurological disease misdiagnosed as stress/depression. I have my MD but am still recovering and am way too fatigued at this point to even think about applying into residency or even an intern or transitional year. With each passing year, I become more concerned that I will at some point not even qualify to apply into residency, should my health miraculously return to normal.
Any suggestions? I enjoy writing. I also enjoy creating artwork and am thinking about selling my work on a site called Etsy, but haven’t tried it yet.
Thanks again for your site!

By: yinka

yinka — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:47:06 +0000

any chance for a doctor that has his licence revoked?

By: WILLIAM MAZZEI III

WILLIAM MAZZEI III — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:50:28 +0000

I read with great interest many of the comments here. I have practiced medicine as a family doctor since 1997. I have decided to transition out of clinical practice.
It’s quite a daunting task when seeing patients is the only work you have ever known and you have so much invested in medicine as a career and as a much more.
Many times, though we may not see it, we are defined by our work as doctors.
I wanted to comment because I feel that physicians are so fragmented and impotent as a group to effect important changes that need to occur in the best interest of us as doctors. When this happens we will be in the best position possible to dictate how we take care of people.
We are certainly not in control of medicine now.
That is not why I want to transition my career, but how can we as doctors ever hope to do what we think is best for our patients when we have lost control of our business ?
We have no powerful voice that speaks for, advocates on behalf of, or echoes our collective concerns.
We have no war chest to tap into that can compete with the corporate monolith of Goliath.
It is worth noting that Mayo clinic does not accept medicare as payment for services. Do you need to ask why this is so ?
I hope that in some way we can start to help each other as much as we help our patients.
Perhaps some of us will start with a blank piece of paper and pen how each of us would like to see our ideal practice.
Does anyone really disagree with the idea of doctor controlling medicine ?
I have heard the arguments of fraud and abuse that put down this idea.
Well, if this is ones logic, we should dispose of all branches of government.

I would appreciate your sharing any resources that you have which may help me in my transition.

By: Dr. Joseph Kim

Dr. Joseph Kim — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:45:31 +0000

MN, There are many re-entry programs for physicians who have completed residency training. I think given the fact that you did not complete, it will be very difficult (but probably not impossible) for you to re-enter. Start with your medical school and see what type of information you can find there. Best of luck to you.

By: MN

MN — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:39:07 +0000

Dear Dr. Kim,

I came across your great article here just now (2009). Thank you for taking your time and your sincerity in empathizing with the readers. I graduated from med school in 1989 but through a strange destiny went on the lesser trodden path of being a non-clinical professional.

Given the current economic climate, the grass looks greener on the other side- as a clinician! I have been so out of it and cannot picture myself in any specialty now without lots of training. Any advice on how to start- any residency training programs geared for re-entrants/older graduates for instance? CMEs would not be adequate and I was thinking more in lines of foreign graduates who simply have to all undergo basic training in the US again.

Thanks Kim

By: stylo

stylo — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:28:08 +0000

Dea Kim , i’ve just came across this article of your’s , i’m a foreign medical graduate in U.S who unforunately couldn’t persue practising lisence to practise / get into match/ work as a doctor, after that heartbreak which happened end of 2008 i’m now planning to do MPH now as i just can’t think of anthing other than serving the community at my best, i’m totally blank as to how get into MPH program , can u suggest me anything ? i’ll try sendin u PM as well , any sort of advice would be helful for me thanks

By: Joseph Kim, MD, MPH

Joseph Kim, MD, MPH — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:56:11 +0000

David, my apologies, but I am not very familiar with the opportunities in London. However, it sounds like you want to focus on epidemiology, so I would suggest that you pursue an MPH. Upon graduation, I would think that you’d have many job opportunities. Best of luck to you.

By: David at LSHTM

David at LSHTM — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:12:44 +0000

Dear sir and madam
I am general practitioner and I want to know what opportunity i have if i take a master in tropical medicine and international healt in London.
thank you
yours faithfully