There are two other things the Tech Bros likely don't have - a kid at home wanting her to tuck them into bed and 7? years of medical school to pay off. If they just spend those 7 years brogramming that she spent in med school, they may still be better off financially than she is at that point.
A well known economist complained to me that economists were not asking the important questions because they were difficult to answer. That is also true of medical research given the availability of the data needed and complexity required to analyze data, especially when "you don't know what you don't know." It takes hard work, seeking advice of many, and ultimately luck to help save your corner of the world . But I believe nothing gives more meaning to a researcher's life when they overcome all the obstacles by do GOOD research that makes a difference in people's lives.
Agree totally that much medical research is useless, wasteful of time and money and frequently not reproducible. But-big but-there is so much pressure on young academics to still be a triple threat, to have lengthy CVs filled with primary research. In the same way you note not that many new oncologydrugs “move the needle” in care/mortality/DFS, not many of these studies make any difference at all. If lucky they are a headline in a journal or their social media. We could probably in each specialty point to the seminal works that have made a difference in care or outcome, hopefully linked, and they would be precious few. There needs to be less emphasis on young academics publishing and more on their effective teaching including the life long ability of physicians to read studies effectively. Greater emphasis.on the evaluation of funding projects would help too.,, hullo NIH, CDC.
It is very common to see obituary notices that state at the bottom: Instead of flowers, please send a contribution to the American Cancer Society or some other disease advocacy group or research organization. It always makes me think, no, the money would be better spent on flowers.
Not sure how things roll in the states. But in Canada, if one wanted to pursue an academic job, there are more and more layers of hoops to jump through, much of it in the form of padding one’s CV with “research” stuff that will never amount to a hill of beans wrt patient care. Thankfully, I’m not on that treadmill….but I hear about it from trainees and am happy i steered clear of that nonsense.
However, this sort of thing is pervasive throughout the system now. Even Med students doing all manner of scut research for a staff-person just to get a good reference letter plus add a line item on CV. There is an arms race to generate more and more irrelevant research in the name of burnishing your bona fides. I suppose this has always been the way to some extent, but seems much more outrageous now than back in my day as a trainee.
I forgot to add comments about useless screening - lol - there was an awful lot of it in the treatment biz. I liked simple. You think u have a problem, come on in. With CNCP it was similar - REDUCE the fear of problems (that useless screening tends to breed).
I was a hustler myself in the music biz! Every waking moment playing that guitar, singing my butt off, dreaming of the big stage and a gold record on the wall. Everything was sacrificed. I was lucky. I got the taste and played on many albums, including a few of my own. Then health woes and an abrupt change of career. When adding family, friends, battery charging time, I was BETTER at the second career (chronic non cancer pain and addiction). Now that I’m retired I’m richer than ever. Useful to my family. Grandkids want to hang out with me. That drive was replaced with the gift of love.
There are two other things the Tech Bros likely don't have - a kid at home wanting her to tuck them into bed and 7? years of medical school to pay off. If they just spend those 7 years brogramming that she spent in med school, they may still be better off financially than she is at that point.
A well known economist complained to me that economists were not asking the important questions because they were difficult to answer. That is also true of medical research given the availability of the data needed and complexity required to analyze data, especially when "you don't know what you don't know." It takes hard work, seeking advice of many, and ultimately luck to help save your corner of the world . But I believe nothing gives more meaning to a researcher's life when they overcome all the obstacles by do GOOD research that makes a difference in people's lives.
Agree totally that much medical research is useless, wasteful of time and money and frequently not reproducible. But-big but-there is so much pressure on young academics to still be a triple threat, to have lengthy CVs filled with primary research. In the same way you note not that many new oncologydrugs “move the needle” in care/mortality/DFS, not many of these studies make any difference at all. If lucky they are a headline in a journal or their social media. We could probably in each specialty point to the seminal works that have made a difference in care or outcome, hopefully linked, and they would be precious few. There needs to be less emphasis on young academics publishing and more on their effective teaching including the life long ability of physicians to read studies effectively. Greater emphasis.on the evaluation of funding projects would help too.,, hullo NIH, CDC.
It is very common to see obituary notices that state at the bottom: Instead of flowers, please send a contribution to the American Cancer Society or some other disease advocacy group or research organization. It always makes me think, no, the money would be better spent on flowers.
Not sure how things roll in the states. But in Canada, if one wanted to pursue an academic job, there are more and more layers of hoops to jump through, much of it in the form of padding one’s CV with “research” stuff that will never amount to a hill of beans wrt patient care. Thankfully, I’m not on that treadmill….but I hear about it from trainees and am happy i steered clear of that nonsense.
However, this sort of thing is pervasive throughout the system now. Even Med students doing all manner of scut research for a staff-person just to get a good reference letter plus add a line item on CV. There is an arms race to generate more and more irrelevant research in the name of burnishing your bona fides. I suppose this has always been the way to some extent, but seems much more outrageous now than back in my day as a trainee.
Love it.
I forgot to add comments about useless screening - lol - there was an awful lot of it in the treatment biz. I liked simple. You think u have a problem, come on in. With CNCP it was similar - REDUCE the fear of problems (that useless screening tends to breed).
I was a hustler myself in the music biz! Every waking moment playing that guitar, singing my butt off, dreaming of the big stage and a gold record on the wall. Everything was sacrificed. I was lucky. I got the taste and played on many albums, including a few of my own. Then health woes and an abrupt change of career. When adding family, friends, battery charging time, I was BETTER at the second career (chronic non cancer pain and addiction). Now that I’m retired I’m richer than ever. Useful to my family. Grandkids want to hang out with me. That drive was replaced with the gift of love.