Re:Should I study towards a MD/PhD in light of advances in A...
by amrosado on Monday August 11, 2014 @03:11PM
(#8164708)
I think radiation oncology is going to be displaced by emerging disciplines in medicine. I would pay close attention to what is happening in the field of immunotherapy since there are a lot of recent success in difficult cancers, autoimmune diseases, and infections. Recently several specialists have supported immunotherapy's potential in cancer treatment (http://www.nature.com/nature/outlook/cancer-immunotherapy/). Unfortunately, training in radiation oncology will most likely be different than the training required to perform this type of medicine. Likewise, the potential for automation/technology/AI in this particular field is quite limited.
It's important to think about why medicine might be moving away from radiological therapies. They are poorly tolerated by patients and expensive (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/radiation-therapy-...). It's difficult to say what will happen in the next couple of years, but radiology in general is taking a hit since hospitals are trying to limit the use of expensive and unnecessary imaging often at the expense of radiology professionals (http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis...). Choosing a career path in medicine should be more about how you like interacting with patients.
It's important to think about why medicine might be moving away from radiological therapies. They are poorly tolerated by patients and expensive (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/radiation-therapy-...). It's difficult to say what will happen in the next couple of years, but radiology in general is taking a hit since hospitals are trying to limit the use of expensive and unnecessary imaging often at the expense of radiology professionals (http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis...). Choosing a career path in medicine should be more about how you like interacting with patients.