pm&r and public health/public policy?

[Needhelppicking]

Hello all,

MS4 here trying to figure out specialty choice and have the fortunate problem of liking three specialties clinically (pm&r, neurology, and pediatrics) and would be happy in any of them.

However, I ideally would love to combine my career in medicine with work in policy/public health. I have done research in social epidemiology and healthcare economics and don't want to sacrifice that type of thinking for a career in medicine.

With that said, I know pediatrics and to an extent neurology provide opportunities and fellowships to get involved in the policy/population health/advocacy side of medicine. Can a career in pm&r provide similar opportunities? Are there overlaps between pm&r departments and schools of public health/policy? Are there social science research opportunities for physiatrists? Can physiatrists do RWJF fellowships? Are physiatrists active in healthcare reform conversations? Seems like the 'disability medicine' aspect of the specialty would go hand-in-hand with the above, and I would love to hear from people who have done public health/epidemiology/policy work as physiatrists about your experiences! Thanks in advance!

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[drusso]

I'm a physiatrist, pain specialist, and have MPH in clinical epidemiology, and MS in Clinical Research. Disability prevention is a robust area for applying social science and physiatric thinking.

 

[drusso]

Drusso, I am a MS3 considering PM&R and pain fellowship, and like you, I have an MPH in epidemiology. Can I PM you more about the field and ask you some questions regarding PM&R? Thank you.

sure.

 

[runfastnow]

Hello all,

MS4 here trying to figure out specialty choice and have the fortunate problem of liking three specialties clinically (pm&r, neurology, and pediatrics) and would be happy in any of them.

However, I ideally would love to combine my career in medicine with work in policy/public health. I have done research in social epidemiology and healthcare economics and don't want to sacrifice that type of thinking for a career in medicine.

With that said, I know pediatrics and to an extent neurology provide opportunities and fellowships to get involved in the policy/population health/advocacy side of medicine. Can a career in pm&r provide similar opportunities? Are there overlaps between pm&r departments and schools of public health/policy? Are there social science research opportunities for physiatrists? Can physiatrists do RWJF fellowships? Are physiatrists active in healthcare reform conversations? Seems like the 'disability medicine' aspect of the specialty would go hand-in-hand with the above, and I would love to hear from people who have done public health/epidemiology/policy work as physiatrists about your experiences! Thanks in advance!

Opportunities abound. Disability (which was almost unlimited avenues), healthcare resource utilization (especially post-acute care and outpatient pain management/surgical diversion), under-served populations access to mobility devices (including prosthetics) are few low hanging fruit I can come up with.