Do you have a PhD/JD/MD?

[BacktoBack]

Depends on the field. A Ph.D. who devotes their life to research in a field such as Pathology, Microbiology, Biochemisty, or Genetics (to name a few) absolutely saves lives. They just don't get the instant gratification of stepping up and doing so in a life or death situation. At the same time, the likely never have to go to bed wondering if they did enough to save someone's life that particular day.

Agree with you on the PhD front. But let's be honest about it, most doctors are not in the life saving business. Many of us re-arrange things here and there for people to make them feel better or prevent disease in the future. It is rare to truly save a life in the sense most people think of it. I work in a field that can have immediate and grave airway problems and I can think of only three times where my presence alone prevented someone from dying. I've done many operations to help with issues, but only three times where people were literally dying in front of my eyes. That never happens in most fields of medicine and rarely in mine (thankfully).

 

[dmcheatw]

i would argue PhD's in all humanities fields save lives, just usually very indirectly. PhD's provide a large part of the impetus and guidance for the progression of civilization, which is both a life giving and a life saving pursuit.

the other doctorates, except for lawyers, also contribute in their own fields to improve our society. Dr's are cool.

 

[Deacon923]

i would argue PhD's in all humanities fields save lives, just usually very indirectly. PhD's provide a large part of the impetus and guidance for the progression of civilization, which is both a life giving and a life saving pursuit.

the other doctorates, except for lawyers, also contribute in their own fields to improve our society. Dr's are cool.

hey, we lawyers do our part too.

I always addressed my profs at Wake and law school as "Professor [Last Name]". That made more sense than doctor, or "Mr./Ms." or first name, and no one ever objected.

Funny story about titles: when in London years ago I bought a small souvenir at the Purdey gun store and got on their mailing list. They would send me offers for the most outrageously expensive upper crust things. Let's say my real name is John A. Smith, the address would always be "Mr. John J.A.S. Smith Esq." their annual catalog was a hoot, if you had to look at the price list you couldn't afford it.

 

[dmcheatw]

hey, we lawyers do our part too.

I always addressed my profs at Wake and law school as "Professor [Last Name]". That made more sense than doctor, or "Mr./Ms." or first name, and no one ever objected.

Funny story about titles: when in London years ago I bought a small souvenir at the Purdey gun store and got on their mailing list. They would send me offers for the most outrageously expensive upper crust things. Let's say my real name is John A. Smith, the address would always be "Mr. John J.A.S. Smith Esq." their annual catalog was a hoot, if you had to look at the price list you couldn't afford it.

yeah i'm just tryin' to get a rise out some lawyers. i think one or two frequent this board.

whenever i talk to a professor, i just call them professor as well, even now. I've never heard a professor with a PhD get upset over that. most professors relish the fact they are in education, and so in my experience even if you called them teacher, they wouldn't mind.

also numbers has a good idea w/ the "just say dr."...nobody gets mad if you do that. kinda like guessing someones age, you take what you think their age is, subtract 10 give or take, and then say that number. you're not gonna offend anyone doin' that kinda thing. might even make someone's day.

 

[DeacwithSeoul]

That really depends on the field of Ph.D. you are talking about. I have mine in Pathology and got it at a medical school. This included 3 years of solid classwork plus 40+ hours in lab, then after classes just a lot of time in lab. Our department required two first author publications in "important" peer reviewed journals (they had a list of approved ones). When it was all said and done, most Ph.D.s took about 5.5 years. Then it is followed by another 4-6 years (getting a bit longer these days with poor funding) as a postdoctoral fellow before one can realistically build up the C.V. to apply for a research professorship. So no, I disagree. I know M.D.s, Ph.D.s, and M.D./Ph.D.s and, at least in the biomedical sciences, many would agree the Ph.D./faculty route is just as difficult as an M.D. Some of my research colleagues with M.D./Ph.D.s talk about how they found the Ph.D. portion harder and they look forward to their clinical time because they find it less stressful to work with patients than reading scientific articles and writing grants. In any case, I do not think it is near a universal rule that an M.D. is always a harder degree than Ph.D.

I'm a post-doctoral fellow (immunologist) now and have submitted three grants already this summer so I can get independent funding to be qualified for an assistant professor position. I have a great CV, but right now its all about how much grant money you can bring to the institution. Reason why many of my friends/classmates are leaving academics for non-research positions.

 

[DeacinBama]

I'm a post-doctoral fellow (immunologist) now and have submitted three grants already this summer so I can get independent funding to be qualified for an assistant professor position. I have a great CV, but right now its all about how much grant money you can bring to the institution. Reason why many of my friends/classmates are leaving academics for non-research positions.

Ugh. I feel for you. I don't have the stomach for research, much less at the bench. Having to get the money for it would be one of my circles of hell.

 

[BigTreeDeac]

I'm a post-doctoral fellow (immunologist) now and have submitted three grants already this summer so I can get independent funding to be qualified for an assistant professor position. I have a great CV, but right now its all about how much grant money you can bring to the institution. Reason why many of my friends/classmates are leaving academics for non-research positions.

Good to know there is at least one more Immunologist on the boards.

Bama, it is probably one of my circles as well just due to the amount of rejection involved these days. I guess I have just accepted being in hell is part of doing what I love.

 

[PhDeac]

yeah i'm just tryin' to get a rise out some lawyers. i think one or two frequent this board.

whenever i talk to a professor, i just call them professor as well, even now. I've never heard a professor with a PhD get upset over that. most professors relish the fact they are in education, and so in my experience even if you called them teacher, they wouldn't mind.

also numbers has a good idea w/ the "just say dr."...nobody gets mad if you do that. kinda like guessing someones age, you take what you think their age is, subtract 10 give or take, and then say that number. you're not gonna offend anyone doin' that kinda thing. might even make someone's day.

I'm just now to the point where I'm not that upset if somebody thinks I'm a student because I look younger than I am.

 

[dmcheatw]

I'm just now to the point where I'm not that upset if somebody thinks I'm a student because I look younger than I am.

haha true enough. just a rule of thumb. enjoy looking young though man. i still look young too but my hair is worryingly thin in the back.

 

[jhmd2000]

The MD/PhD distinction is that I don't save lives.

That is true, but not the only distinction. Not even close, actually.

I don't understand any degree considering itself in the same hemisphere as an MD. Residency alone >>>>>>>>>>>>> anything most anybody outside the military/fire/police do in their professional lives.

GTF over yourselves already.

 

[PhDeac]

haha true enough. just a rule of thumb. enjoy looking young though man. i still look young too but my hair is worryingly thin in the back.

I have tons of greys but they're spread out and I'm tall enough that people don't notice.

 

[marquee moon]

a) It sounded extremely formal (very grammatically correct) for someone trying to talk about the boards being a place for all people to come together, regardless of education,
and
b) it brought to mind a childhood memory of one of the "little kids" of the neighborhood (our 'hood was split into 'big kids' and 'little kids' by age) declaring that the woods that ran behind all of our houses, which had turned into a jungle gym/natural fort/awesome barricade of fallen trees after Hurricane Fran, should be the one place where everyone should be equal whether they're a big kid or a little kid. Naturally, this lead to a big kid vs. little kid War of the Woods that lasted for about 4 days.

What an amazing childhood story.

 

[marquee moon]

I only get addressed as Dr. in professional settings or when first meeting somebody. I love having a Ph.D. and I am damn proud of getting the degree but I prefer being called by my first name. I am in Academics and that tends to be the case more often than not. For some, only those close to them address them casually. And I would concur that my more dickish colleagues tend to want people to address them as Dr.

Eta: I teach at a graduate school so most of my students are doctoral candidates so more casual interactions are encouraged. I would say 50% or more of the undergrads I have taught refuse to call me by my first name no matter how many times I told the class to use it.

It's a generational thing. When I went to wake (86-90) no one thought that calling a prof "doctor" made that person a dick. You just did it out of respect.

 

[wakephan09]

It's a generational thing. When I went to wake (86-90) no one thought that calling a prof "doctor" made that person a dick. You just did it out of respect.

You were a student; I think he is talking primarily about the ways in which colleagues and support staff might address him.

 

[marquee moon]

You were a student; I think he is talking primarily about the ways in which colleagues and support staff might address him.

Oh I agree with that. Sorry was skimming too fast.

Then got reminiscent and googled some old profs and stumbled upon the history of wake forest publication.

Dr. Doyle R. Fosso. Shakespeare. What a great fucking teacher he was. I don't know about now, but Wake's English program in the 80's was killer. They had legendary professors.

 

[BigTreeDeac]

You were a student; I think he is talking primarily about the ways in which colleagues and support staff might address him.

Yeah. I do not consider any professor that wants their students to address them as doctor a dick. I was talking about colleagues of mine that want/require me to address them as doctor. That is being a dick, given the nature of our relationship. I do not like my students calling me doctor either but I understand why many want that professional divide.

 

[marquee moon]

Yeah. I do not consider any professor that wants their students to address them as doctor a dick. I was talking about colleagues of mine that want/require me to address them as doctor. That is being a dick, given the nature of our relationship. I do not like my students calling me doctor either but I understand why many want that professional divide.

I wonder if Timothy Bent made his female students call him doctor love.

 

[buckets]

 

[ChicdeaC]

Good to know there is at least one more Immunologist on the boards.

I started my career (in high school) in Immunology and have one JI pub. Then I realized labs were for suckers #fieldwork

 

[silk]

Wasn't too many years a go that lawyers got a Bachelors of Law. These were replaced with JD's. Same with phamacists who now get PhamD's