Molecular Pathology as a Career

In My Humble Opinion
1

Well, I’ve finally received confirmation from all of the grad schools to which I applied and am now faced with a dilemma. My first two choices right now are University of Washington (the one in Seattle) for pharmacology and UC-San Diego for molecular pathology. I already know basically which way I am leaning with the decision, but I would like to hear from other people about their opinions on molecular pathology as a future career.

UC-SD appeals to me because of the large number of faculty and the interdisciplinary nature of the program (it seems more so than UW which focuses almost entirely on signal transduction primarily in the nervous system). It also gives me an opportunity to work with the neurosciences department there (which is extremely highly regarded) without applying to their neurobiology department (my background is in physical/analytical biochemistry and from what my advisor told me I would have a very slim chance of getting into that particular field).

I have no interest in pursuing an MD or academic career path, so are molecular pathologists without an MD in demand now? I guess I am concerned with my marketability as someone with a PhD in a field that seems to be dominated by clinicians. Anyone else pursue similar interests in grad school?

Oh, and here’s the website of the program: http://medicine.ucsd.edu/molpath/

2

With your career, future and job satisfaction riding on the line–plus tens of thousands of dollars–you might want to do an informational interview of 2-3 people in these fields, rather than relying on a message board. :wink:

3

haha, of course. I am actually meeting with 6 professors at the end of March and I’ve stayed in contact with them (as well as some professors in departments other than my own) about my concerns. I have an overly sensitive BS-meter, however, and would like to hear if anyone has done anything similar to molecular pathology. I really enjoy research so I think I would be happy at either one, it’s the getting a job part that has me somewhat concerned.