SKMC Med Talk Considering Additional Degrees

What led to your decision to explore new career paths and acquire additional degrees? What lessons have you learned through this experience?

David Nash, MD, MBA

Healthcare is America's biggest business, 20% of the annual gross domestic product, or $4 trillion annually. Now, all doctors are leaders. And the most important challenge that we face in medical education is if all doctors are leaders, and we're in the biggest business in America, most of our students are woefully unprepared to take a leadership role. And that's because even at a great medical school like Sidney Kimmel Medical College, the actual training on how to do any of this doesn't exist. I use my MBA training every day, and it's been a real privilege to be on the faculty for more than three decades. I'm all about training leaders for the future, and I bristle when I hear people say there's the business side and the medical side, because they're inextricably connected. The punchline is, the only way you'll get that training is with a second degree.

Douglas Elwood, MD ’05, MBA

The real benefit of earning dual degrees is that it introduces a way of thinking that medical students typically do not receive. It provides a broader approach and a deeper understanding of interactions. A significant challenge in business, especially startups, is translating clinical knowledge into a viable business model. For instance, with the shift to value-based care, understanding and implementing it is complex. A dual degree helps bridge clinical and business realms, enabling effective communication and strategy development. It’s not about recalling specific lessons from economics classes, but rather applying a different perspective to bridge conversations between these fields. This integration is crucial for commercializing healthcare products and overcoming challenges. The process of making a clinical concept into a larger enterprise is intricate and requires diverse experiences and insights.

Mary Stephens, MD ’94, MPH, FAAFP, FAADM

I started in private practice to focus on patient care, though I always had an interest in teaching. After a few years, I felt a strong drive to teach, especially with the growing emphasis on evidence-based medicine. I pursued a master’s of public health in North Carolina, funded by a HRSA grant for medical education. After completing my MPH and fellowship training at Carolina, I integrated my public health knowledge into teaching residents about risk, evidence, and applying current news to patient care. In 2011, my daughter was born with Down syndrome, which exposed me to significant biases in her care. This experience, combined with my background in public policy and public health, led me to start a Down syndrome consultation program at Christiana. I later joined Jefferson in 2018 to establish the FAB Center for Complex Care, focusing on teens and adults with complex conditions. I think it’s most important to be curious and know what you love. An extra degree is extra work after the end of a long day. So, if you're just trying to check a box, I wouldn't do it.

Andres Fernandez, MD, MSEd

Being a good clinician doesn’t automatically make you a good educator. There's a science to education that isn't covered in medical school. During my master’s program, I discovered the qualitative methodologies akin to psychology, which are often overlooked in the quantitatively focused medical training. Master's programs in medical education have emerged over the past decade, designed to be practical and relevant to the work of early faculty members. These programs encourage applying new knowledge directly to one's current role, enhancing leadership and practical skills over time. Balancing education and work is manageable when you integrate learning into daily tasks. At academic institutions with medical schools,applying master's principles is straightforward. In my roles as clerk director and in the scholarly inquiry track, I use these educational principles daily. Collaborations with other medical schools also allow me to apply this training regularly in my research and administrative duties.

John Entwistle III, MD, PhD

As my career progressed, I found it challenging to balance being a cardiac surgeon with conducting PhD-level research. Partnering with someone to run a lab didn’t work out for me. While I enjoyed my PhD, I never directly applied those skills. Later, I became interested in ethical issues related to end-stage heart failure, particularly managing patients with left ventricular assist devices. This interest led me to pursue a master’s in bioethics around age 50. This degree not only fascinated me but also facilitated my promotion in academic medicine. In academic medicine, promotion requires regional or national recognition and publications or educational contributions. My bioethics degree helped me join ethics committees and national societies, and to deliver lectures on bioethics, aiding my advancement at Jefferson. Your undergraduate degree doesn’t constrain you; medical schools recognize your ability to learn. Choose a second degree based on your interests, not just for the credential, as genuine interest will drive your success.

Adam C. Mueller, MD, PhD

Balancing two degrees is a significant challenge for any physician-scientist. The primary difficulty is utilizing both trainings effectively and excelling in two distinct roles: managing a lab and providing high-quality patient care. Competing with full-time PhD researchers for grant funding and maintaining high standards in patient care are demanding tasks that must be met simultaneously. Clinical care, being both rewarding and time-consuming, often encroaches on research time, making schedule control essential. It involves saying no to certain responsibilities to prevent clinical duties from overwhelming research commitments, while ensuring colleagues don't perceive you as neglecting departmental standards. From a financial perspective, physician-scientists generally fare better than their PhD counterparts, but they must also secure their own salaries. This is easier for physicians in less procedural specialties. However, those in high-earning roles face pressure to maximize their valuable time and need more grants to cover higher salaries. Balancing these demands remains a fundamental career challenge.