Mind expanding a little on the different career paths? I've always just assumed that most toxicologists work at academic EDs +/- a tox service and take call for poison control. Are there other options?
Don't get me wrong, the most common career path definitely is a mixture of ED shifts and taking call for an academic consult service or poison control center with the majority of income coming from the ED shifts with a lucky few getting a directorship of some sort that shifts their practice to be more toxicology focused. It's worth noting that a lot of this predominance is likely driven more by socioeconomic factors.
Other options in toxicology though:
- Outpatient clinic
- Addiction medicine
- Private practice consult service
- Medicolegal work (malpractice, occupational/environmental exposures, consumer products)
- Government positions (disaster planning, regulatory, epidemiology, etc)
- Corporate work (product consulting, environmental evaluations, pharmaceuticals, etc.)
Other more supplemental income options are tangential fields (hyperbarics, personalized medicine, wilderness medicine) and teaching CME courses.
In the end, all physicians have similar options but toxicology gives you a unique niche and a less crowded job market to pursue it in.