MD-PhD programs are long. In recent years, there have been pushes in medical schools and MSTP/MD-PhD programs to reduce the overall length of training. When looking longitudinally, we can see how the timeline to having a career (and lab) of one’s own can be quite extended: 6-10 years for MD/PhD, 3-6 years for residency/fellowship, and a few years of postdoctoral research, and maybe post-baccalaureate research prior to all of this. The biggest factor that will determine the time to completion of dual degrees is your PhD lab. Because medical school curricula are more-or-less fixed in their schedules, the differences in time to completion of MD-PhDs comes from the PhD phase of time. Your PhD lab will determine the topic area and scope of your individual projects, your level of independence or collaboration with others in your lab/externally, and a reference frame for what amount of work in sum can constitute a PhD. The average time to completion of biomedical PhDs in the United States floats around 5-6 years, and MSTPs are able to help reduce this usually by double-counting MD coursework towards the coursework requirements of PhD programs. However, the time constraints and logistics of re-entering the medical school curriculum can pose unique challenges to MD/PhD students in their PhD phase, leading many to pursue projects with defined goals and endpoints, and incentivize projects that use existing resources in the lab. That isn’t to say that it is impossible to go off on your own, as many students are able to leverage this opportunity to do so and find success through it. Because of these constraints, it’s important to have frank conversations with your PI or potential PIs about your timeline. If finishing your PhD work within a 4 year timeframe is essential, you need to communicate that to the PIs you meet with/rotate with. Moreover, this is another instance where talking to students currently in a lab can be very useful, as it can provide you a better glimpse of implicit expectations of a PI with respect to time to completion: If the majority of PhD students in a lab are finishing in ~6 years, it may be challenging to get something off the ground and sufficient to finish your PhD in the restricted timeframe. All that being said, the PhD is a time to sponge up diverse skillsets which you can use in your academic career ahead. You are unlikely to have as much protected time as the PhD affords you to explore topic areas and fail with lower stakes. While time is undoubtedly important and the cause of much stress, taking the time that you need to hone your craft and grow as a scientist is essential, and shouldn’t be rushed.
colinmccornack.github.io
MD/PhD experiences from a current student POV