Insights into a career in research and clinical medicine

Insights into a career in research and clinical medicine

Feb 9, 2021 0
innovation,onthepods,research

In this podcast, Abhi Pal chats to Elie Matar about his journey and insights on research and clinical medicine.

Summary Writer:  Laura Park

Script Writers:  Abhi Pal, Elie Matar

Editors:  Elie Matar, Evangelie Polyzos

Interviewer:  Abhi Pal

Interviewee:  Elie Matar

About Dr Elie Matar

Elie Matar is a Neurology Advanced Trainee and a NHMRC postgraduate scholar based in Sydney, Australia. He is a Clinical Lecturer with the University of Sydney and has a strong passion for medical education and clinical research. Having co-founded a hospital clinical redesign committee, Elie believes junior doctors have an important responsibility in pioneering innovation to improve the healthcare systems within which they work.

 

About Dr Abhi Pal

Abhi Pal is a Medical Oncology Staff Specialist at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia.  In his non-existent spare time he is completing a part time PhD through Sydney University in informed consent and clinical ethics during communication with patients with advanced cancer. He has a strong interest in drug development, clinical trials, communication and also in hospital culture, burnout and doctor welfare.

Insights into a career in research and clinical medicine

With Dr Elie Matar, Neurology Advanced Trainee, Avant DIT Research Scholarship recipient, NHMRC postgraduate scholar and Clinical Lecturer, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

 

Introduction

 

In this podcast, Elie Matar takes us through his journey and insights on research and clinical medicine. Based on his personal experiences, Elie provides insights and advice to junior doctors who are considering research in conjunction to their clinical careers. Whilst diverging from the path of clinical training to pursue research can be daunting, Elie’s story shows that it is possible and how rewarding it can be.

  • Gives you the flexibility to balance your career with other non-medical aspects of your life such as spending time with family
  • Provides new opportunities to broaden your professional networks through travel and attendance at conferences
  • Helps you to expand your skill set, such as technical expertise (e.g. complex statistical analyses) and develop new career opportunities
  • Allows you to become well-acquainted with medical literature
    • Interpretation of medical literature (e.g. limitations of other people’s research)
    • Knowledge about boundaries of medicine (e.g. diagnostic boundaries)
    • Critical reading/thinking skills
  • Empowers you to exercise your creativity more freely
  • Time scales of reward are different
    • Rather than the immediate satisfaction you may get in clinical medicine, reward is incremental in research. You need to invest a lot of time in order to achieve that satisfaction
  • Technical and logistical challenges such as recruiting participants and obtaining ethics approval
  • Can be a solitary endeavour at times, with limited interaction with others. Depending on the culture of your research lab, this can feel potentially isolating
  • Depends on the individual and why they are choosing to pursue research
  • If you are unsure about which specialty or subspecialty you want to pursue, and want to do research to secure a clinical job, or to get exposure to research, then probably better to pursue it later in your medical training when you have a greater awareness of your subspecialty interest and what skillset is required by the service where you want to work
  • If you are serious about pursuing academia in the future and know where your interests lie, then consider doing it earlier in your medical training but ideally close to the end to avoid a long gap of reduced research productivity when you go back to fulltime medical training
  • General aspects:
    • Qualities you respect
    • Get along with the supervisor at a personal level
    • Ensure they are able to provide the time and support required (speak to others who have worked under them to get a sense for this)
  • Practical aspects:
    • Does the research supervisor have a good research track record and are they well-connected?
    • Good research environment and culture
      • Is the supervisor able to give you access to the technical expertise required for your project?
      • Ensure you have access to patients / animals
  • Can you learn new clinical skills that can enhance your clinical practice?
  • You will have to apply for grants and scholarships
    • Look broadly for what grants and scholarships are available
    • Consider government-sponsored scholarships such as NHMRC
    • Look at funding options available through universities, such as additional top up scholarships
  • Individual societies and other organisations will also have grants available, for example Avant Doctors In Training scholarship program, specialty societies (e.g. Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, and disease-focused charitable foundations (e.g. Parkinson’s Foundation).
  • Consider supplementing income with locum clinical work (also helps keep your clinical skills up and satisfies requirements to maintain your medical registration)
  • Understand your motivation for pursuing research. Having an enjoyment for research and an unadulterated passion to push the boundaries of science and medicine is great. But it is equally OK to pursue research for practical reasons such as acquiring additional skills and furthering your clinical career. Either way, being clear about your motivations helps you plan your research pathway (e.g. timing, supervisor, topic).
  • Plan and organise early – e.g. field, type and place of research
  • Pick an area you are interested in – research is a long pathway with lots of ups and downs
  • At each stage, seek advice from people in your network – mentors, colleagues and researchers

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Tags: #Avant,#clinical medicine,#Doctors in Training,#NHMRC,#research,#scholarship

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