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Q. Did medical doctors and nurses watch the ER series when it was popular?A. I liked the show and the characters, but the medicine was bad, contrived, inaccurate, and fantasized. I imagine what other professions Hollywood gets wrong. Policemen, attorneys, reporters must cringe all the time.The contemporaneous medical show Chicago Hope was more realistic and less dramatized, in the beginning.Scrubs surprisingly was more accurate. ER actually had a script consultant (Greg Moran, MD) who trained in Emergency Medicine and Infectious Disease at USC and is Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at UCLA.TV Medical Drama Accuracy FAIL! (In 3 Categories) - Soliant Healthby TERA TUTEN onAPRIL 13, 2011“It must be true…I saw it on TV,” many non-medical professionals exclaim, after catching some insights on a procedure or disease during a modern medical drama episode.It’s a refrain heard over and over again, and while many entertaining depictions of life from the ER to the OR employ consultants in the medical industry, there’s no rule that says their advice has to be obeyed.From entire series’ to reoccurring myths to specific (sometimes brutal) technical blunders, here are a few of the glaring accuracy fails we’ve spotted in three cringe-inducing categories…TVs most prominent medical shows ranked according to accurate portrayal of real-life hospital situations:Scrubs – Surprisingly, this bumbling live-action cartoon was heralded by doctors and med students as the most true-to-life medical TV series in terms of both technical accuracy and capturing the culture of doctors and interns (more…)St. Elsewhere – Sure, it was easier to remain true to the real-life profession when TV reigned as the supreme medium and ratings were a cakewalk, but the folks at St. Eligius did it with an homage to real medical doctors, nurses and hospitals that’s tough to equal in any decadeER– Despite having the master of researched fiction – Michael Crichton – as its creator and consultant, the team at County General lands just in the middle of the spectrum. (To put it in perspective, though, Crichton is the same person who created Jurassic Park.)House, MD – Some well-researched plots but also some pretty far-fetched situations you wouldn’t encounter outside the world of fiction. (full medical reviews of each episode…)Grey's Anatomy – Squarely at the bottom, TV’s most popular medical drama is also heralded by doctors as the least accurate, when it comes to portraying life working at a hospital. As addictive as it is, Grey’s is also by-far the greatest committer of the following sins:Most common inaccurate portrayals of hospitals and their staff on TV medical dramas:The TV myth: Doctors operating outside their specialtyThe reality: Though shows like ER or Grey’s depict surgeons performing every procedure in the hospital, this just ain’t so. The sheer variety of surgeries in different specialties that doctors perform on these shows is also something you’ll only see on TV.The TV myth: Doctors doing everything at every step in patient careThe reality: Many patients who are fans of these shows are amazed to see that the nurses in real hospitals seem to do everything. (Usually this appearance is because patients see nurses many times more often than doctors, though it’s also because – unlike on TV– doctors don’t do most of the stuff to patients that looks cool on TV.)The TV myth: Patients revived just in time for the commercial breakThe reality: Though lots of medical dramas let the credits roll right after a dramatic death scored with a melancholy Top 40 ballad, the same shows also rely on just-in-time resuscitations before or after commercial breaks. In reality, flat-lines can’t be solved with paddles, CPR is rarely successful, and hospital resuscitations are successful 5-10% of the time in ideal circumstances.The TV myth: Every resident leaving the hospital at the same time (often to go have drinks)The reality: Though this was a favorite of ER and Grey’s, it’s just mathematically impossible. In addition, as one poster on http://forums.studentdoctor.net/ puts it “you aren’t going to meet too many surgeons who tie one on every weeknight to the point of inebriation and are able to show up in the morning ready to work. (Many of the surgeons I know won’t even drink coffee within a day of a surgery because it makes them jittery).”The TV myth: Doctors hooking up with colleagues on-the-jobThe reality: *Ahem* You know which show we’re talking about here…Beyond doctors on almost every post on the web that discusses this laughingly wondering which hospital in America they could work at that would actually allow them enough time to form a romantic relationship with a colleague, such broom closet rendezvous’ would be serious cause for dismissal at pretty much any real-life facility.Specific medical accuracy FAILs on TVIn one Grey’s Anatomy episode, two characters perform an illegal autopsy against a family’s wishes. On the show, the characters are forgiven (instead of arrested) because they discover the patient had a rare genetic disease. Since the Tuskegee tragedy, noted a recent Slate article, doctors have instilled institutional checks to ensure that clinical research is ethical. Unfortunately, many patients may still avoid doctors because now they are afraid of being experimented on after – in their minds – TV fiction confirmed their worst fears.Medical Investigation (NBC, 2004-2005), did the out-in-the-field epidemic detective work of the CDC but were identified as employees of the National Institutes of Health (a federal agency more focused on lab-based science.) Also, the heroes wore leather jackets while checking for a deadly pathogen (*pff!* who needs that mandatory protective gear.)A Canadian study out of Halifax Nova Scotia’s Dartmouth University showed that TV doctors and nurses responded inappropriately to seizures almost half the time: “Television dramas are a potentially powerful method of educating the public about first aid and seizures,” said study author Andrew Moeller. “Our results, showing that television shows inaccurately showed seizure management half the time, are a call to action. People with epilepsy should lobby the television industry to adhere to guidelines for first aid management of seizures.”In another Grey’s episode, Dr. Yang asks a woman to donate her husband’s organs after he dies. Yang tanks in the sensitivity department, dispassionately asking for the husband’s eyes and skin, then runs out of the room as the wife begins to cry. “The scene is rife with errors that could damage public perception of organ donation,” noted the same Slate piece. As it turns out, Yang is jockeying for the husband’s organs because another patient – a close friend of the chief of surgery – is dying from liver failure and will be saved if the wife agrees. In real life, hospitals go to great lengths to prevent these types of conflicts of interest, barring doctors from approaching patients and designating statewide organizations (rather than individual hospitals) to distribute organs.That’s not all…More TV medical myths:http://realdoctorstu.com/2011/01/19/the-top-10-medical-tv-myths/New program pairs U.S. health officials with Hollywood writers: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660213843/US-health-officials-prescribing-doses-of-medical-accuracy-for-TV-shows.htmlKeeping medicine on TV real: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18233164/ns/health-health_care/The most accurate television show about the medical profession? Scrubs.By Joanna WeissZach Braff in ScrubsAny fictional television show about a real profession runs the risk of getting things wrong. I work for a newspaper and cringe whenever I see reporters portrayed on TV. (They're always so self-serving and venal. What's up with that?) I once interviewed a criminology professor who complained about the stunningly obvious things CSI characters say at crime scenes. Real forensic investigators, he explained, don't shout, "Look at this! It looks like blood! We'd better send it to the lab!" But if you talk to doctors, they'll often sing the praises of one medical show in particular, which they say captures the training process, the profession, and the dynamics of a hospital with remarkable accuracy. No, it's not House, the tale of a misanthrope who happens to be a doctor. It's not Grey's Anatomy, a torrid romance novel disguised as a medical show. It's not even the recently departed ER, which broke television ground with its realistic gore. It's Scrubs.After seven seasons on NBC and an eighth on ABC, the series airs tonight what might be its final episode. If it returns next fall—"a coin flip," at this point, creator Bill Lawrence told me—it will feel like a different show, tracking familiar characters but at a different stage in their lives and careers. Scrubs follows the travails of doctors John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff), Christopher Turk (Donald Faison), and Elliot Reed (Sarah Chalke), who launched their careers in 2001 as interns at the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital.To the layman, the half-hour sitcom may hardly seem like a paragon of factual accuracy. Its approach isn't realist or vérité—on the contrary, it's essentially a live-action cartoon, filled with fantasy cut-aways, bathroom humor, sex jokes, and jiggy dances. At any moment, a Sacred Heart physician might imagine sick patients ballroom dancing through the ward or a scowling malpractice lawyer strutting through the waiting room and tossing out business cards like a blackjack dealer. J.D., meanwhile, has been known to contemplate a tough medical decision while stroking Justin, his stuffed "soul-searching unicorn."This probably doesn't sound like any hospital you've visited. But if you look past the cartoonishness, you find a series that's quite in tune with the real lives of doctors—and unlike your typical medical drama, one that's not required to end each episode with a climactic surgical procedure or whiz-bang diagnosis. ER, for instance, was about the heroic things doctors do to save lives, and every episode was rife with calamity. Scrubs, on the other hand, is mostly about what happens at hospitals between crises—the way doctors and nurses handle ordinary cases. And doctors say that as a depiction of the residency process, the show hits strikingly familiar emotional notes. J.D. narrates nearly every episode in a voice-over, setting up jokes and transitions between bits, but also describing his thoughts and insecurities. Doctors say they recognize in J.D.'s internal monologue the real thought processes of a young doctor at work."He says exactly what a resident feels, day in or day out. 'Am I hurting the patient? Am I learning what I should? Am I kissing up too much to the attending?' " says Jonathan Samuels, an attending rheumatologist at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. "I always thought Scrubs was right on."If the show feels like somebody's real-life experience, that's probably because it is. Creator Bill Lawrence, the man behind Spin City, Clone High, and the upcoming Cougar Town, built Scrubs around stories from his college friend Jonathan Doris, now a cardiologist in Los Angeles and a medical adviser to the show. He found humor in Doris' experiences, he says, and also a truth about human nature that's not often seen in medical shows. "In television, we like our doctors to be very heroic and very dramatic, and they kick doors open, and they say the word stat a lot," Lawrence says. But: "If your buddy was a funny kind of goofball that made jokes out of everything in college, then as a doctor, he's the same guy."Some moments from Doris' residency found their way directly onto Scrubs, says Dr. Paul Pirraglia, an internist in Providence, R.I., who was part of Doris' Brown University resident class. In the pilot, J.D. performs a procedure called a paracentesis to drain fluid from a patient's distended belly; he turns away for a moment, then looks back to discover a geyser of fluid gushing into the air. It happened—just like that—to a fellow resident at Brown. Lawrence says Doris, like the fictional J.D., also hid in a closet early in his residency to avoid being the first doctor on the scene when a patient was coding.In fact, Lawrence says, nearly every medical scenario on the show has originated with a real-life situation, tweaked a little bit for drama and the constraints of half-hour comedy. Each year, he assigns his writers to interview five doctors and report back with story ideas. Doctors often volunteer funny stories as well, he says, though many of them involve objects that patients manage to insert in their rear ends—a plotline Lawrence and his crew could use only once. (For Scrubs purposes, it was a light bulb.)But Pirraglia and other doctors say what makes Scrubs resonate isn't the specific scenarios so much as the broader themes. The show tracks the tensions between surgical and internal medicine residents—the jocks vs. the chess club, as J.D. puts it in the pilot. It captures the allure of private practice—in Season 6, Elliot takes that route and enjoys the fruits of an inflated salary. It explores the risks and rewards of intra-hospital romance, through the on-again, off-again relationship between Elliot and J.D.—which is currently quite on. It dramatizes the ways hospitals struggle to allocate resources—Dr. Kelso, Sacred Heart's chief of medicine, has more than once ordered a patient without insurance to go untreated. And it pokes fun at the way residents jockey to get plum assignments—in one episode, residents race down a hallway like Pamplona bulls for the right to treat a member of the hospital board, trampling one another and several patients in the process.Even these fantasy sequences can be seen as an element of the show's verisimilitude, suggesting a sort of survival tactic, a way to endure the grueling rhythms of life on 36-hour shifts. Scrubs captures the agony of hunger and fatigue those shifts force doctors to endure, says Dr. Svetlana Krasnokutsky, another attending rheumatologist at NYU and Samuels' fiancee. (Hospital romance does happen in real life; there's hope for J.D. and Elliot yet.) She recalls watching a Scrubs doctor eat food off a comatose patient's tray. Krasnokutsky says she's never gone that far, but she's thought about it.Krasnokutsky says she, too, identifies with J.D.'s constant self-reflection and self-doubt. In the pilot, J.D. declares, "I don't know jack," and the show in many ways has been an ongoing exposition of that point. Residents often feel like they know nothing, Pirraglia says, yet they're suddenly invested with huge amounts of responsibility, expected to give orders to much-more-experienced nurses, required to make quick decisions with life-or-death consequences."Being a resident is a strange place between officially being a doctor, which you are, but also really not knowing it all," he says. "You get this level of authority that you don't think you deserve. All of a sudden you're the doctor and people are going to listen to you."What helps—and also comes through on Scrubs, he says—is the support of fellow doctors. A seminal moment in his own residency came when he was called to a patient with a serious gastrointestinal bleed. Blood poured over the table. Time was running out. And suddenly, the room was filled with fellow residents, offering unsolicited help. Over and over again, even when they're mired in hospital politics or a relationship squabble, Elliot and J.D. do the same for each other. In the Season 4 episode "My Office," they snipe at each other relentlessly after being named co-chief residents. But when a patient codes, they work together without a second thought. "The best thing about this place," J.D. says in his voice-over, "is that when somebody's really in trouble, all the pettiness melts away."Despite the dogged efforts of the medical staff, however, the patients on the show sometimes die anyway—sometimes because the Scrubsdoctors have made fatal mistakes. Scrubs isn't a procedural built around dramatic recoveries, and many of the episodes, as goofy as they are, end on notes that are wistful or just plain sad. "You never promise a patient they're gonna be fine," the abrasive Dr. Cox growls to J.D. in the Season 4 episode "My Best Moment." "God hates doctors. He truly does. …"That case had a happy outcome—it was a Christmas episode, after all. Unflinching as it often is, Scrubs also maintains an unabashedly sentimental perspective on medicine. That could well be something else that doctors love about the show and a reason Lawrence is asked to speak at medical school graduations. J.D and his colleagues may be by turns blustery and mired in secret self-doubt, but they're also uniformly human and well-meaning; even the supposedly hard-hearted, penny-pinching Dr. Kelso has turned out to be a softie in the end. God might hate doctors, but Scrubs loves them, and the feeling is mutual.Script DoctorsJun 07, 2012 | MD Magazine Staff.Since at least the 1950s, medical dramas have been a staple of television programming—and for good reason. Where else are the stark realities of life and death more vividly experienced than in the work of doctors and other medical professionals? Few television writers and producers have a background in medicine, though, so MDs have been enlisted as consultants to help lend these programs a sense of reality. To find out what it takes to help produce medical dramas that are both accurate and entertaining, we spoke with consultants from two of the most popular examples of the genre in recent decades: House and ER.If you’re interested in working as a consultant on a medical show, it generally comes down to who you know. Harley Liker, MD, MBA, helped his friend and neighbor, television producer David Shore, sketch out the cast of characters for a new show Shore was developing that would center on solving medical mysteries—and ended up as a consultant on House from its first season on. Greg Moran, MD, who did a residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases, started out feeding ideas for odd maladies to a friend from his residency program at USC who was a consultant on ER and went on to become a consultant himself for the show’s final five seasons. Compared with Liker and Moran, Lisa Sanders, MD, took a slightly unorthodox route to her position as a consultant on House: Her monthly Diagnosis column in the New York Times Magazine, which explains how physicians sleuth out difficult cases, was an inspiration for the show and has served as the basis for a number of its episodes.Once on board, medical show consultants generally keep their day jobs. Although Moran’s friend, who got a film degree in addition to an MD, moved up the ranks and ultimately became an executive producer of ER, most consultants are strictly part-time. “It was a side thing,” says Moran, who is vice chair of emergency medicine at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and a professor of medicine at UCLA. “It was a few hours a week.” When the work comes through, however, it has to be attended to quickly. “No matter what’s happening in my life, when a script comes, I have to drop everything and look at it, because I only have 48 hours to make suggestions on how to fix it,” says Sanders, an assistant professor of medicine in the internal medicine and primary care program at the Yale School of Medicine.Medical consultants are just one part of a complicated apparatus, and their feedback can have significant consequences for others involved in making the show. “The scripts get moving pretty quickly, and there is a whole production cycle of when a script gets released to the time it needs to be revised to the time it gets to the actors to the time it gets to the special effects and props people so they can get what they need,” says Liker, who is an associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA and provides concierge medical services through his company, Liker Consulting. “Say I had to give a writer a note or comment where I thought that the patient absolutely needed to have an MRI and imagine there wasn’t a reproduction of an MRI machine on the set and they are going to have to go out and get one—you can’t do that in a day.”The basic role of the consultant is to help ensure that the medical details of each episode are accurate—pointing out when a drug that is only available orally is scripted to be delivered intravenously, for instance—and help the writers imagine how medical scenarios might play out. On ER, Moran would generally receive an outline of an episode script with broad sketches of what was to happen in each scene and then write a first draft of the medical sections. This might involve coming up with a plausible dispute between two characters over how to approach a particular case. On House, consultants vet scripts for medical accuracy and play a role in coming up with the ultimate diagnosis for each episode as well as the false leads that the physicians might pursue in trying to treat it.“It’s a 60-minute show, and in the first 45 or 50 minutes, you basically want to distract the viewer,” says Liker. “Maybe it’s a pneumonia, OK, let’s treat it with antibiotics. Oh, we treated for pneumonia, but he’s not getting better, so maybe it’s something else. And I think they needed a lot of help with the something elses and how to step through to get to the end.”When working on a television show, however, consultants learn to balance absolute verisimilitude against the need to tell a good story. One challenge is working with a limited cast, which means that characters might be shown performing a procedure that is far outside their normal area of practice. “For instance, you’ve got someone like Chase [on House] who is trained as a pulmonary critical care expert occasionally doing neurosurgery,” says Liker. “That would never happen. Only a neurosurgeon would do neurosurgery.” And, of course, there is House’s central character, the famously cantankerous yet brilliant Gregory House, MD, who cuts ethical corners, disregards patients’ treatment preferences, and berates colleagues and patients alike, all in the pursuit of the greater good. “In internal medicine, we spend a lot of time teaching our residents how to behave properly on the theory that if you’re good to your patients, you have a much, much better chance of getting the whole story,” says Sanders. “So there are a whole bunch of people who do primary care who just hate House because he has such a terrible bedside manner.”Moran acknowledges that the drama was frequently amped up much higher on ER than it was in a real-life emergency room, but takes pride in how the show managed to have physicians and other medical staff use the sort of medical language they would in reality. “We would have to find a way to make it self-explanatory so the audience could tell what was going on, but we would use all the technical jargon,” he says. “That was just part of the feel of the show—that the docs and the nurses were speaking in the way that they would in the real world.” Another mark of ER’s realism: Some patients actually died. “That really is more reflective of the real-world situation,” Moran says. “A lot of patients do die. Clearly the outcomes on ER overall were better than in the real world, but they didn’t always have to have a happy ending.”Sanders says that House’s writers and producers are generally eager to incorporate her suggestions for correcting errors to help make the show as accurate as possible, although there was one notable exception—the time she challenged a writer’s description of an infection in a man’s mouth as “bacterial vaginosis,” meant to imply that he had been engaged in oral-genital contact. “I sent this long email saying that, first of all, that organism doesn’t grow in the mouth, but even if it did, it wouldn’t be called ‘bacterial vaginosis’ because it’s not in the vagina, so it would be called oral stomatitis or something, and then I gave a few other suggestions that would convey that kind of contact in a funny way,” she says. “Twenty minutes later, the answer came back, and it was just one line: ‘Thanks, Lisa, but my way is funnier.’ And, you know, it was. I thought, ‘Oh, right, I get that.’ It’s nice to be accurate, but sometimes it’s also good to get off a really good joke.”In the end, as Liker points out, the shows belong to the writers and the producers, not the consultants. “The writers come up with the ideas, and the medical consultants help them shape those ideas to create stories that will be compelling and as technically accurate as possible given the understanding that the show is a drama and not meant to represent pure reality,” he says. “It’s like somebody builds a beautiful car, and we shine the chrome to make it a little brighter, but we’re not building the car.”- See more at: Script Doctors

Q. What are the good things about going into a neurological medical field?I get immensely depressed thinking about the intense, demanding, and rigorous study (and time studying) to even get into the field (neuropathology, personally), the immense financial debt, and the chance I might not even make the good life that I want.I still find science - especially neuroscience - incredibly fascinating, and there is still a little voice in the back of my head saying I shouldn't give up yet. So, what are the good sides to going into neuroscience?Bonus: are there fields in neuroscience that don't require med school?A. Below are multiple articles that discuss training to become a neuroscientist (PhD) and neurologist (MD) or both.PhD Training:Steps to Becoming a NeuroscientistOverview Of Training Program - Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (Berkeley)Neuroscientist: Job Description, Duties and RequirementsNeuroscience Degree: What To Expect? | Inside JobsHow to become a neuroscientist (House of mind)When will neuroscience blow our minds?MD Training:Become a Neurologist: Step-by-Step Career GuideHow to Apply for a Residency Step-by-Step Guide to Applying to a Neurology Residency ProgramNeurology Residency Road Map Washington UniversitySteps to Becoming a Neuroscientistby Vicki A. BengeRelated Articles[Neuroscience Ph.D.] Salary of a Neuroscience Ph.D. & M.D.[Neuroscience Pay] Neuroscience Pay Scale[Requirements] What Are the Requirements for a Neuroscientist?[Master] What Can I Do With a Master's Degree in Neuroscience?[Conflict] How to Stop Conflict in the Workplace Before It HappensA medical scientist who studies the brain and nervous system is called a neuroscientist. Skilled in research and equipped with advanced degrees, some neuroscientists focus on a more narrow disciplines such as neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurophysiology or neuropsychology. To pursue a career in neuroscience, begin taking steps toward that goal in high school.College-Prep CoursesA high school student interested in a career as a neuroscientist can begin by building a strong foundation in science and mathematics. Basic introductory science courses to study are physics, chemistry, and especially biological science courses such as general biology, physiology and human anatomy. In mathematics, study introductory algebra, calculus and geometry.Undergraduate StepsEntering college students pursuing a bachelor's degree in neuroscience can expect a specific curriculum. For example, course requirements for a neuroscience major contain basic science courses, core neuroscience courses and multiple electives. The core courses include introductions to general neuroscience as well as cellular, molecular, and cognitive or behavioral neuroscience. Advanced science courses are in chemistry, biology, physics and physiology. Study of statistics as they relate to the biological sciences may also be a required course. Students participate in laboratory rotations, also.Postgraduate StudyThe next step to becoming a neuroscientist after obtaining a bachelor's degree is to begin postgraduate study. Graduate students concentrate on advanced neuroscience courses and related instruction, such as the study of statistics as they relate to the biological sciences. Grad students participate in laboratory rotations, special seminars and lectures pertaining to the discipline. It is also in postgraduate study that Ph.D. candidates set their thesis topic and research plans to obtain a doctorate degree.Postdoc TrainingA small percentage of neuroscientists obtain a medical degree before pursuing postdoctoral training. However, whether the individual holds a Ph.D. or M.D., a postdoctoral fellowship to gain further training in neuroscience is a common last step before seeking a job. Postdoctoral trainees gain valuable experience conducting research. Some may choose to do laboratory work in a related yet new area of study. This is valuable training as the majority of medical scientists, which includes neuroscientists, spend their careers working in research and development, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Overview Of Training Program - Helen Wills Neuroscience InstituteSteps to a PhDNeuroscience is a broad field that requires multidisciplinary training as well as intensive study of specific concepts and techniques related to each student’s primary research focus. The Neuroscience PhD Program is designed to provide highly individualized, flexible training that fulfills both these needs. Our PhD training program has a standard completion time of 5 to 5.5 years. The program is PhD-granting only, there is no Master’s Degree Program. The following is a general overview of the steps to a PhD. For detailed policies, see Resources For Current Students.Neuroscience Boot CampFirst-year students begin the program with an intensive, 10-day “Boot Camp” course held just prior to the official start of fall semester classes. The course features lectures on key neuroscience concepts and on classical and emerging experimental techniques and evening research seminars by Berkeley Neuroscience faculty. In addition, hands-on research projects in faculty laboratories cover techniques ranging from molecular neuroscience to neurophysiology and optogenetics to fMRI. The goal is to provide an immersive introduction to multiple disciplines and experimental approaches within neuroscience. Boot Camp unites Neuroscience-oriented students from multiple PhD programs.Laboratory RotationsDuring Year 1, each student spends three 10-week periods performing research projects in different faculty laboratories. The choice of laboratories is based on student preference. The goal is to expose students to different techniques and approaches in neuroscience and to provide training in experimental design, critical analysis of data, and presentation of research findings. Performance in rotations is evaluated and graded. Rotations also allow students to identify the laboratory in which their thesis research will be performed. Students formally present results from the laboratory rotations in a dedicated course designed to instruct students in clear, effective presentation of scientific findings.CourseworkThe program has highly flexible course requirements. These are designed to provide students with sufficiently broad training to be conversant in all areas of neuroscience, while allowing focus in the area of primary research interest.During the first two years of the program, each student is required to take 3 courses chosen from three broad areas: (A) Cellular, Molecular & Developmental Neuroscience; (B) Systems and Computational Neuroscience; and (C) Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience. Each student consults with faculty advisers to determine the most appropriate individual courses within these areas.Students must also complete a 1-semester course in Applied Statistics in Neuroscience, or an equivalent approved course in statistics or quantitative analysis methods.For additional details, see the Neuroscience-Related Course List.Training in TeachingEffective teaching is a critical skill required in most academic and research careers. Students are required to serve as Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs; equivalent to Teaching Assistants) for two semesters. GSI teaching occurs during Years 2 and 3, and provides supervised teaching experience in laboratory and discussion settings. Teaching is evaluated, and outstanding teaching is rewarded with annual Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards. One to three of our students typically win this award each year.Qualifying ExaminationStudents complete an Oral Qualifying Exam during the Spring semester of Year 2. This exam is structured around two written proposals – one in the student’s proposed area of thesis research, and the other in an area of neuroscience outside the thesis topic. During the exam, a faculty committee tests the student’s knowledge of these areas and general neuroscience. Students must demonstrate the ability to recognize important research problems, propose relevant experimental approaches, and display comprehensive knowledge of relevant subjects. Students must pass the qualifying examination before advancing to doctoral candidacy.Thesis ResearchThesis research begins after the completion of rotations in Spring or Summer of Year 1. During Year 2, students conduct thesis research while completing required coursework and GSI teaching. Years 3 to 5 are spent primarily on thesis research. Progress on thesis research is evaluated by the student, the thesis adviser, and a Thesis Committee of three additional faculty members. Thesis research is expected to lead to publication in top-ranked, refereed scientific journals. Students are strongly encouraged to present posters and speak at scientific meetings and conferences. During Year 4, they make a formal presentation of their research progress to their peers. Completion of thesis research is determined by the Thesis Committee. While there is no formal thesis defense, students present a formal thesis seminar to the neuroscience community in their last semester of candidacy.Other Program ActivitiesDuring training, students are expected to participate in a range of activities to increase their exposure to neuroscience research within and outside their specialty areas. These include the annual Neuroscience Retreat, the Neuroscience Seminar Series, as well as other affiliated seminar series and lectures. Students also participate in journal clubs, lab meetings, and multi-laboratory special interest group meetings focused on specific scientific topics. See Program Activities for a comprehensive list.Financial SupportAll admitted students receive full financial support, including payment of tuition and fees, and direct financial support (set at $34,500 for the 2016-2017 year) during the period of enrollment in the program, providing that good academic standing is maintained.Resources For Current StudentsGraduate Program PoliciesProgress Through DegreeQualifying Examination GuidelinesThesis Committee Guidelines 2016Single Parent Financial Support PolicyNeuroscience Program Graduate Student Appeal ProceduresGraduate Division PoliciesGuide to Graduate PolicyGraduate Division AppealsProcedureFormAcademic AppointmentsImportant DatesAcademic CalendarNeuroscience Graduate Student CalendarCourses and Interest GroupsNeuroscience Course Curriculum and Course ListNeuroscience Courses of Interest Offered-Fall 2016Neuroscience 290 Seminar List-Fall 2016Brain Lunch Web PageCourse CatalogSchedule of ClassesNeuroscience Data Mining GroupNeuroscience Student ResourcesNeuro Grad Advisers 2016-2017Fellowship Information 2016Professional Development LinksGraduate Student Professional Development GuideForms & Important LinksNeuroscience Program FormsAddress InformationAdviser ChecklistThesis Committee Instructions and Report Form 2016Thesis Placement FormGraduate Division FormsAdd Drop ClassApplication Candidacy FormApplication Filing Fee FormApplication Readmission FormChange in Committee Request FormChange of Major Request FormPetition Retroactive WithdrawalQual Exam Application FormQual Exam Report FormResidence Request for Readmission FormWithdrawal Petition FormGraduate Division & Other Important LinksGraduate DivisionGraduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource CenterImproving English Language Proficiency for International StudentsGSI and GSR GuideUAW Contract for GSIsUniversity-wide Financial SupportUniversity Health ServicesRegistrar’s OfficeLibrariesBerkeley International OfficeCampus Disability AccessDisabled Students ProgramGraduate AssemblyCal HousingNeuroscientist: Job Description, Duties and RequirementsLearn about the education and preparation needed to become a neuroscientist. Get a quick view of the requirements as well as details about degree programs, job duties and licensure to find out if this is the career for you.View 10 Popular Schools »Neuroscientists conduct research to develop pharmaceuticals to treat neurological disorders. A Ph.D. or M.D. is required for clinical work. Depending on their focus, neuroscientists can work in offices, laboratories, clinics, and hospitals.Essential InformationNeuroscientists research how the nervous system behaves. They can also develop pharmaceuticals for neurological disorders and treat patients. Neuroscientists are expected to complete advanced degree programs and must be licensed before performing clinical work.Job Description for a NeuroscientistNeuroscientists study the development and function of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerve cells throughout the body. They could specialize in one part of the nervous system, such as neurotransmitters, or focus their research on specific behaviors, such as psychiatric disorders. Illnesses based in the nervous system include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.Neuroscientists can take part in publicly funded research projects at universities, research institutes, or government facilities. Others perform applied research for private industry, where they develop new pharmaceutical treatments or other biotechnology products. Some treat patients as licensed neurosurgeons and neurologists.Duties of a NeuroscientistNeuroscientists typically perform research in offices or laboratories. Some work in clinics and hospitals to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients.Neuroscientists begin experiments by preparing tissue and cell samples. They make use of antibodies, dyes, and gene probes to identify different components of the nervous system. Tools and equipment used to monitor brain and nerve activity include magnetic resonance imagers and microelectrodes. Some use computers to create nervous system models, while others study the simplified nervous system of insects to better isolate certain behaviors.Requirements to Become a NeuroscientistNeuroscientists are expected to complete a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree program, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The BLS further stated that those pursing clinical work must earn a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. Some schools offer a combined Ph.D./M.D. program, which increases a neuroscientist's career opportunities. In order to treat patients, neuroscientists with an M.D. must also participate in a medical residency and pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination.Students intent on pursuing a Ph.D. can choose to enroll in a bachelor's degree program in neuroscience or a biological science to prepare for graduate studies and research. Relevant coursework includes computer science, cognitive science, mathematics, and physics. In addition to neuroscience, graduates may choose advanced degree fields specifically in neurobiology or pharmacology. Before securing more permanent research positions, neuroscientists commonly participate in postdoctoral fellowships to gain laboratory experience.Salary Info and Job OutlookAccording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), the median annual salary earned by medical scientists, the category under which neuroscientists fall, was $82,240 in May 2015; those working in scientific research and development services earned an average of $104,310 a year in 2015. The employment of medical scientists is expected to grow by 8% between 2014 and 2024, per the BLS.Neuroscientists improve lives by developing medications to treat patients with neurological disorders. They must possess a Ph.D. or M.D. to engage in clinical work. As of 2015, neuroscientists fall under a category with a median salary of $82,240; those classified under the scientific research and development services industry have an average annual salary of $104,310.Neuroscience Guide1. 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Top SchoolsTop Colleges with Oncology Programs: List of SchoolsBest Colleges for Forensic Pathology: List of Top SchoolsNeuroscience Degree: What To Expect? | Inside JobsFiguring out what’s going on in another person’s mind is no easy task. Like Psychiatrists, Neuroscientists are professionals who dedicate their days to deciphering what’s going on upstairs. However, unlike Therapists who try to help with feelings or diseases created by our synapses and frontal lobes, Neuroscientists focus on the science and biology of the brain. They work to answer questions about specific diseases affecting the anatomy of the brain, and, in general, attempt to figure out how the different parts of the mind work.If all this sounds interesting, read on so you’ll know what to expect from a degree in neuroscience.TrainingGetting into neuroscience requires you to have more than a few years of schooling. The first degree to get is a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. Though you can be a neuroscience major, you might also spend your time studying biology, chemistry, or physiology. No matter what you major in though, you want to make sure you get used to doing research, as this is a skill that most job opportunities for Neuroscientists call for.What you study in your undergrad years can influence what area of neuroscience you focus on later, but ultimately, that’s not as important as what you study while getting your master’s degree or Ph.D. in neuroscience.Next StepOnce done with your undergraduate degree, you need more advanced training before you can consider yourself a Neuroscientist. There are a number of neuroscience careers, and what you hope to do dictates what type of degree you need.If you want to work with brain injury patients, head to medical school. If you want to find new medicines or figure out why Alzheimer’s affects certain people, get your Ph.D. and become a researcher. You can become anything from a Professor at a university to a researcher for the National Institute of Health.How to become a neuroscientistHouse of Mind"BIOLOGY GIVES YOU A BRAIN. LIFE TURNS IT INTO A MIND."- JEFFREY EUGENIDESAbout Dr. MNYU Neuroscience PhD turned Postdoctoral Fellow at Pitt. I started this neuroscience/psych blog as a grad student (2010) to help me remember cool concepts learned during class. Now, I mostly review articles and concepts, summarize new findings, answer questions you may have about neuroscience/psych/the grad school experience.May 6, 2011How to Become a NeuroscientistI have gotten so many questions about people who are interested in neuroscience as a career that I have created this post so I can reference back to it in the future.Note: This is a guide directed towards people that want RESEARCH careers. My graduate program’s approach towards neuroscience integrated knowledge from many areas like electrophysiology, cellular and molecular biology, and computational neurobiology relying on mathematics/physics. Also, a number of you seem to be under the impression that I am studying neuropsych, which I am not. Neuropsych is traditionally a more clinically-oriented branch within neuroscience.First of all, if you want to become a neuroscientist, you will most likely have to complete formal graduate training in a related branch or field. You have to be ready for this, because it is something that will take a long time. Not to worry though, time flies and if you like what you’re doing you won’t mind…In college, the most common options are majoring in either biology or psychology. Some schools have a neuroscience or biopsychology major that may be in the biological sciences department or the psych department or even a combination of both. For example, you could major in biology and minor in psych or vice versa… Because neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field, I would recommend taking courses outside your major (especially if you’re in a psych dept). Helpful and attractive courses include: physics, calculus, organic chemistry, biochem, genetics, cell and molecular biology, bioethics, and neuropsych or psych courses. Importantly, some people come from other backgrounds like electrical/computer engineering that are also helpful in areas like electrophysiology, computational neurobiology and neuronal modeling. Thus, a major in biology or psychology is not a MUST but it definitely gives you an advantage.While in college, it is also important to gain research experience (try volunteering in labs just to learn or for course credit) while maintaining a decent GPA. And by decent I mean higher than 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Of course, not all is lost if your GPA is below a 3.5. It will just be harder and you might not be regarded as competitive as other students. Mind you, if you have a 4.0 but all your classes are in the soft sciences and you didn’t take challenging courses, you’re in trouble as well… Third year of college (assuming you will graduate in 4 years) is crucial. This is the time to beef up your CV/resume, take the GRE, talk to people who will be your references, and complete your application to graduate schools. Graduate schools have a wide variety of programs (i.e. neurobiology, neuroscience, neuropsych) with different kinds of focus. Look at the curriculum for each program and find one that is well-suited for your interests and career aspirations. Remember to apply early and to ask for fee waivers, if available (I applied to 8 schools and got fee waivers for all but one of them!). Your personal statement is essential. And by that I mean it absolutely has to be good if not great. Different schools have different criteria for this essay and you should remember to pay attention to these criteria and follow instructions. You should also have several people proofread it before you send it. After you submit your application, send an e-mail to make sure everything is complete. If you get an interview, ask who your interviewers will be and familiarize yourself with their research and areas of expertise. Be nice, enthusiastic and ask smart questions. Also, during your interview, highlight why you want to be part of the training environment at that particular university or location and why you’d be a good match for the program and the department. Remember to send thank you e-mail to the faculty that met with you and anybody else you deem appropriate to thank.Graduate school: Do your best to learn and understand the material presented in your intro classes, as it will be the foundation that most of the other classes will be built upon. You don’t need stellar grades in graduate school, but you do need to pass, which for most universities is a solid B. While you are during your first year, you will most probably rotate through different labs in which you will be able to get to know the lab, learn the techniques and figure out if it’s a good fit for you. After you finish classes, you will be working on your thesis. Most likely, you will need to propose your thesis, select a review committee (composed of experts in fields relating to your research), work in lab and collect data to support your thesis, and defend it. After you defend your thesis, your committee decides your fate. This is the meat of grad school. Work, work, work. Get that thesis out and publishing well. Bonus if you learn how to write grants.Post-graduate school: Postdoctoral fellowships are a common way of learning additional techniques or addressing a different but related question. Or you could also go into something you don’t know much about. I keep hearing that a postdoc is supposed to add versatility, diversity and publications to your CV. This is also the time period in which you learn how to run a lab, work on your own independent projects, write grants, and decide where you want your career to go (i.e. industry, academia, clinical). Think about it as an extension of your training in which you get more freedom and flexibility.Alternatively, some people enroll in medical school to pursue an MD degree in addition to the Ph.D. one while others go back to school for other degrees (ex. PsyD, law, etc…). Others find industry jobs or go into public policy.Hope this helps. If you want to know about something more specific not listed here, contact me.When will neuroscience blow our minds?The discipline has promised big advances in many areas, but is it failing to live up to the hype? Three neuroscientists consider the state of their fieldAugust 4, 2016Source: AlamyThere has been no great theoretical revolution in neuroscience. But that does not mean that no revolution will ever come. Neuroscience is still youngIt’s a curious time to be a neuroscientist. The science of brain and behaviour is everywhere: endless books, documentaries, newspaper articles and conferences report new findings aplenty.The recognition by the general public that the brain deserves serious attention is gratifying. Much of this interest derives from worries about maintaining brain health. Disorders of brain and behaviour (from anxiety and depression to brain tumours and Alzheimer’s disease) come with enormous costs to both individuals and health systems. Consequently, many private and public agencies support wonderful research in neuroscience. The Wellcome Trust, for example, funds a vast and far-reaching programme extending from studying individual molecules all the way to imaging the working brain. In the US, both the National Institute of Mental Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) support a large neuro-research programme – partly driven in the latter’s case by the desperate need for viable treatments for brain trauma deriving from blast injuries in active service personnel.Philanthropy is also active: my own institution, Trinity College Dublin, recently received a joint endowment with the University of California, San Francisco of €175 million (£134 million) for work on brain health – the single largest endowment in our history.And yet there are misgivings. The deep answers to the problems that impact on public health and well-being are not coming quickly enough. The hundred or so failed drug trials for Alzheimer’s disease have come at a cost reckoned in the billions; these are huge sums for any pharmaceutical company to absorb, and many have now written off research in brain diseases as too complex and too costly to sustain – blocking off one potential career destination for neuroscience graduates in the process.Answers to big basic questions also seem a long way off. Even if this trend is now in decline, there have historically been too many papers reporting results along the lines of “brain area x does trivial function y”. The brain is, by definition, more complex than our current models of it, and it is only by embracing that complexity that we will be able to address questions such as: How can a brain be conscious? How can a brain experience diffidence or embarrassment, or reason in a moral fashion – and be simultaneously aware that it is so doing? How can a brain play rugby? Should a brain play rugby?A few simple principles aside, there has been no great theoretical revolution in neuroscience comparable to those precipitated in other disciplines by Darwin, Newton or Crick and Watson. But that does not mean that no revolution will ever come. Neuroscience is still a young discipline, reflected by the fact that many undergraduate programmes still rely on matrix arrangements between multiple home departments (chiefly psychology, physiology and biochemistry).Number of neuroscience degrees conferred in the USSource: US National Center for Education StatisticsMeanwhile, recent controversies over the replicability and reliability of research studies have been healthy, as they expose limits to knowledge. Understanding has been boosted of the dangers of basing conclusions on experiments that lack sufficient statistical power because of, for instance, low numbers of research participants or the retrofitting of hypotheses in light of results.Other anxieties revolve around definitional issues: where does neuroscience stop and psychology or molecular biology start? But really, nobody should care too deeply about such questions: there are no knowledge silos in nature, and man-made silos aren’t useful. Knowledge blending is the game: it’s good to know something about the engine, the engineering principles and the nuts and bolts of the car you drive: not just the dynamic relationships between the steering wheel, accelerator, brake and petrol gauge. To take one example, there has been great mutual enrichment between socio-psychological theories concerned with stereotyping and those concerned with the brain’s mentalising network (activated when we attempt to understand agency in others). It turns out that brain regions involved in disgust are activated when we make judgements about members of despised out-groups. This is an important finding, integrating psychological processes involved in stereotyping into more general biological processes concerned with cleanliness and self-other differentiation.Yet further anxiety is generated by neuroscience’s encroachment into public policy. We see the almost obligatory “neuro” prefix attached to concepts from ethics to politics, leadership, marketing and beyond. No wonder the great “neurobollocks” rejoinder, blog and meme have arisen. There are regular calls to apply neuroscience in classrooms, for example, despite there being no meaningful knowledge base to apply. Similar pleas arise for the use of brain imaging in the courtroom, as if the underlying science to detect the presence (or absence) of lying were settled. It is not. And the public will have been done no favours if one form of voodoo science (lie detection polygraphy) is substituted by another. The background thinking, of course, has not been done: a science that revealed actual thoughts (as opposed to coloured blobs representing neural activity) would be a remarkable violation of our assumed rights to cognitive privacy. There are lots of sticky questions here for the willing (neuro-) ethicist to ponder.But one useful effect of the popular focus on the brain is destigmatisation. Seeing conditions such as addiction as a brain and behaviour disorder rather than a moral failing facilitates understanding and treatment – although, ironically, the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs for treating depression is being obstructed by unhelpful rules based on inappropriate worries about addiction.Adding to the ferment are new neurotechnologies. Some are potentially dangerous, such as the use of commercially bought or even home-made electrical devices known as transcranial direct current stimulators to “enhance” brain function, or the off-label experimentation with supposed cognitively enhancing drugs that some students indulge in during revision and exams. But other technologies are astounding: brain imaging, optogenetics (which uses light to control genetically modified neurons in living tissues) and deep-brain stimulation (which uses a surgically implanted device to treat neurological disorders with targeted electrical impulses) are just three examples.But, with all new therapeutic treatments and devices, there is always a question of how scalable it is. A successful pharmacotherapy-based treatment for Alzheimer’s disease would scale easily, but deep-brain stimulation for drug-resistant Parkinson’s disease involves serious and very expensive neurosurgery. Of course, restoring individual productive potential should be important to the bean counters; restoring quality of life to sufferers is beyond value. But only about 100,000 patients have had this operation; scaling it to all sufferers worldwide is a pipe dream.There are early interventions that could have great effect by addressing prevention rather than cure. Early childhood poverty, for instance, has enduring effects on brain structure and function: relieving it through income support, school meal provision and intensifying education has an upfront expense but a great downstream benefit in terms of productive lives supported. Similarly, aerobic exercise interventions promote brain and cognitive function, in addition to heart health. But only public intervention is going to promote such things because there is no money to be made in it for a pharmaceutical company.And while we are (again) on the subject of money, it is worth reflecting that, notwithstanding the billion-euro and billion-dollar brain projects currently being carried out in Europe and the US (see Steven Rose’s piece), research into diseases such as dementia still receives much less funding than research into cancer.Perhaps that balance could be redressed if there were one catch-all term for diseases and disorders of the brain, just as “cancer” designates a wide array of fundamental and applied research in cell biology, applied to a difficult patient condition.It is not easy to think of something suitable. “Neurodegenerative disorders” doesn’t work, for example: it has too many syllables, and misses the many other brain disorders that are not neurodegenerative (such as attention deficit disorders or addictions). But here’s a thought: just as “malware” is used to indicate functional or structural problems with a given information technology device, perhaps we could use “malbrain” to mean something like “any disorder, dysfunction, structural problem or pathophysiological problem afflicting the brain, impairing normal neurological, psychological and psychiatric functioning of an individual”.“Malbrain” has advantages as a word. It hasn’t been widely used before, it has few syllables and it doesn’t come with any stigma. Adopting it would not instantly erase neuroscience’s problems, but if it drew in more medical funding it could help the discipline further mature, opening up career options, enhancing the sense of common purpose among researchers and, hopefully, edging one or more of them closer to their Einstein moment.Shane O’Mara is professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin and was director of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience from 2009 to 2016. His latest book, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, was published by Harvard University Press in 2015.The technologies are there, the problems to be addressed are tempting and the theoretical issues are profound, touching some of the deepest questions about what it means to be humanNeuroscience has become one of the hottest fields in biology in the half-century since the term was coined by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With the mega-projects under way in the European Union and the US, the discipline can now qualify as a full-fledged Big Science.As neuroscience has expanded, the “neuro” prefix has reached out far beyond its original terrain. For our new book, Hilary Rose and I counted no fewer than 50 instances, from neuroaesthetics to neurowar, by way of neurogastronomy and neuroepistemology. “Neuro” is intervening in the social and political, too. We have neuroeducation, neuromarketing and neurolaw. In public consciousness, the glowing, false-coloured magnetic resonance images of the brain, ostensibly locating the “seats” of memory, mathematical skill or even romantic love, have replaced DNA’s double helix as a guarantor of scientific certainty.Meanwhile, the torrent of neuro-papers pouring out of labs overspills the proliferating specialist journals and threatens to take over much of Nature and Science. A wealth of new technologies has made it possible to address questions that were almost inconceivable to my generation of neuroscientists. When, as a postdoctoral researcher, I wanted to research the molecular processes that enable learning and underlie memory storage in the brain, my Nobelist superiors told me firmly that this was no fit or feasible subject for a biochemist to study. Today, memory is a mainstream field for molecular neurobiologists; it has yielded its own good-sized clutch of Nobel prizes, and ambitious neuroscientists are reaching out to claim the ultimate prize of reducing human consciousness to brain processes.What has proved most productive has been the combination of new genetic and imaging techniques. The well-established methods of deleting or inserting specific genes into the developing mouse and exploring their effect on brain structure or behaviour have been superseded. It is now possible to place the modified genes into specific brain regions and to switch them on or off using electronically directed light, allowing researchers to activate or erase specific memories, for instance. The new imaging techniques are so powerful that they even make it possible to track the molecular events occurring in individual synapses – the junctions between nerve cells – as chemical signals pass across them.But such technical and scientific triumphs may pale into insignificance when faced with the complexity of the brain. To see how far there is to go, consider the ostensible goal of the EU’s Human Brain Project: to model the human brain and all its connections in a computer and thereby develop new forms of “neuromorphic” computing. The scale of the task and the grandiosity of the ambition is indicated by the fact that in 2015, after six years of painstaking anatomic study, a team of US researchers published a complete map of a minuscule 1,500 cubic micrometres of the mouse brain – smaller than a grain of rice. And the mouse brain’s weight is about 1/3,000th of that of the human brain – although this didn’t inhibit the journal’s press release from suggesting that the map might reveal the origins of human mental diseases.What might a complete model of the human brain reveal if one could be built? Potentially very little. For we still lack any overarching theory of how the brain works – not in the sense of its minute molecular mechanisms or physiological processes, but how brain processes relate to the actual experience of learning or remembering something, solving a maths problem or being in love. What is certain is that these experiences are not statically located in one brain site, but engage many regions, linked not just through anatomical connections but by the rhythmic firing of many neurons across many brain regions. It may be that, despite its imperialising claims, neuroscience lacks the appropriate tools to solve what neuroscientists and philosophers alike refer to as “the hard problem” of consciousness.Perhaps of more general concern is the question of what neuroscience can contribute to the pressing problems of neurological disease and mental illness. Where biology is still unable to provide methods to regenerate severed spinal nerves to overcome paralysis, advances in ICT have come to the rescue, with the development of brain-computer interfaces and prostheses, offering hope of bypassing the severed nerves and restoring function. But despite detailed knowledge of the biochemistry and pathology underlying Alzheimer’s and other dementias, there are still only palliative treatments available.Furthermore, despite the funds poured into the brain sciences by the pharmaceutical industry, there have been few advances in treating those with mental disorders, from depression to schizophrenia. The newer generations of antidepressant drugs, for example, work no better than those discovered or synthesised at the dawn of the psychopharmacological era in the 1960s. All are based on the proposition that the origins of these disorders lie in some malfunction of the processes by which neurons communicate with one another, primarily through chemical transmission across synapses. Plausible though this sounds, the continued failure to come up with better treatments has even led many biologically oriented psychiatrists to question the entire paradigm. In the US, the National Institutes of Health will no longer accept grant applications related to psychiatric disorders unless they can specify a clear hypothesis and a biological target. And I have lost count of the number of times in the past few decades that the discovery of a “gene for” schizophrenia has been loudly trumpeted, only to be quietly buried a few months later. A consequence has been that many pharmaceutical companies have rowed back from such research in favour of more tractable areas.So how to sum up the state of neuroscience? If one sets aside general issues about the state of academia, such as job insecurity, the ferocious competition for grants and the increasingly authoritarian structure of universities, there has never been a more exciting time to be working in the field. The technologies are there, the problems waiting to be addressed are tempting and the theoretical issues are profound, touching both the minutiae of day-to-day life and some of the deepest questions about what it means to be human.But, in approaching them, neuroscientists must learn some humility. Ours is not the only game in town. Philosophers, social scientists, writers and artists all have things of importance to say about the human condition. And neuroscientists who offer to use their science to educate the young or adjudicate morality in courts of law should proceed with utmost caution.Steven Rose is emeritus professor of neuroscience at the Open University. Co‑written with Hilary Rose, his latest book, Can Neuroscience Change Our Minds?, was published by Polity Press in June.The ‘black box’ that has squatted resolutely between genes and specific behaviours for such a long time is now being filled with real mechanistic insightI was at a meeting recently where a speaker declared that “in the neurosciences, we have experienced the excitement of technical innovation, followed by inflated expectation, and now we have entered the trough of disappointment”. This depiction surprised me. Not just because it is a cliché, trotted out and used to describe the current status of topics as diverse as graphene and the Great British Bake Off, but also because it is palpably wrong.Wanting to get to the root of the speaker’s confusion, I enquired over dinner if he was getting enough sleep. He said “tiredness stalks me like a harpy”. Interesting. The rationale for my question was a recent study showing that sleep-deprived individuals retain negative or neutral information, while readily forgetting information with a positive content. I concluded that sleep deprivation must be at the root of his distorted and overly negative views. As I articulated my counterarguments, his eyes glazed over and his head dipped. I rest my case.I sleep well, and so remain immensely positive about the current state of neuroscience. But why? What positive knowledge and experiences have I retained and consolidated in my cortex? The first would be the immense culture change that many of us have experienced over the past 20 years. Traditionally, questions in neuroscience were addressed by a single laboratory using a limited repertoire of techniques. The work usually focused on a specific neuron, or neuronal circuit, located in a favoured animal model. Some individuals spent their entire working life hunched over “their” electrophysiological rig collecting data from “their” neuron. Just moving the electrode a few millimetres and “poaching” the neuron of another was considered to be the height of predatory aggression.Most neuroscientists were more than aware of the limitations of this narrow approach. Ready for change and helped by surprisingly innovative funding initiatives, they found a new way of working – not just with other neuroscientists but across the spectrum of biomedical science. There are now countless examples of major questions being addressed by a critical mass of researchers sharing expertise and employing integrated approaches and communal facilities.The result is that detailed information is emerging about the molecular and cellular basis of core functions of the brain, providing a real understanding of how the brain is involved in autonomic, endocrine, sensory, motor, emotional, cognitive and disease processes. All these developments, along with advances in bioinformatics and computational modelling, now place the neuroscience community in an unparalleled position to address the bigger picture of how the brain functions through its synchronised networks to produce both normal and abnormal behaviour. Furthermore, the expansion of experimental medicine is providing new and exciting research opportunities. The human genotype-to-phenotype link, studied through close cooperative contacts between clinical and non-clinical researchers, is an increasingly important driver in elucidating fundamental mechanisms.True – neuroscientists have yet to answer the question of “what is consciousness?”, or to cure dementia or schizophrenia. We may not be able to do this for some time. But should these great and laudable goals be the only metrics against which progress is measured? If so, then spectacular successes will be overlooked. Across the neurosciences, important fundamental questions are being answered: not least, how genes give rise to specific behaviours. In my own field, the collective efforts of many individuals have begun to explain in considerable detail how circadian rhythms arise from an interaction between key “clock genes” and their protein products. We are also beginning to understand how multiple individual clock cells are able to coordinate their efforts to drive circadian rhythms in every aspect of physiology and behaviour, including the sleep/wake cycle. Attempts to understand how the eye detects the dawn/dusk cycle to align the molecular clockwork to the solar day led to the discovery of an entirely new class of light-sensing system within the retina. Efforts to explain why some people are morning types (larks) while others are evening types (owls) have been linked directly to subtle changes in specific clock genes.I could go on and on, and I know colleagues in other areas of neuroscience could cite analogous triumphs. For some balance, I am keen to highlight psychiatry. It has long been known that conditions such as schizophrenia have a major genetic component, but identifying the specific genes involved has been a significant problem, and at one stage was thought to be an intractable one. However, very recent genome-wide association studies have provided real insight. More than 100 gene loci have now been linked with schizophrenia risk, identifying for the first time “genes for schizophrenia”. Furthermore, many of these genes have clear therapeutic potential, both as drug targets and in identifying environmental factors that influence the development of the condition. The point I am trying to make is that the “black box” that has squatted resolutely between genes and specific behaviours for such a long time is now being filled with real mechanistic insight.I will not pretend that everything is perfect. We do face significant problems, not least how we fund and recognise the efforts of early career neuroscientists, who are often obliged to work in very large teams, making individual achievements hard to highlight. However, I absolutely refuse to support the notion that neuroscience now resides within a “trough of disappointment”. The immense progress and successes that have been and are being achieved across the broad spectrum of the discipline should be recognised and celebrated. The state of neuroscience is robust, and we are genuinely shuffling forward in our understanding of the most complicated structure in the known universe: the human brain.Russell G. Foster is professor of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford.Read more about:Knowledge transferResearchScienceRelated universitiesUniversity of OxfordExploreMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyExploreTrinity College DublinExploreBecome a Neurologist: Step-by-Step Career GuideShould I Become a Neurologist?Neurologists are physicians and surgeons who treat patients with nervous system disorders, including problems with the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Many neurologists work in hospitals, and though health and safety precautions are taken, there is some risk of exposure to infectious diseases while working in any medical setting. Doctors who work in hospitals commonly work more than 40 hours a week and often during irregular hours of the day. The potential for high income is present in this career. It can be emotionally and physically challenging, but there is great reward in improving peoples' health and saving peoples' lives.Neurologists will need strong communication and leadership skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, problem-solving skills, patience, empathy, and knowledge of human anatomy and the nervous system. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average salary for all other physicians and surgeons, including neurologists, was $197,700 as of May 2015.Undergraduate DegreeEarning a bachelor's degree is the first step toward becoming a neurologist. There is no specific major required for undergraduate study. However, aspiring neurologists may benefit from concentrating their studies in biological sciences, chemistry, physics or pre-med to meet admission requirements for medical school. Pre-med requisite courses typically include microbiology, biochemistry and human anatomy.During the junior year of an undergraduate program, aspiring neurologists must take and pass the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). This exam allows medical schools to evaluate an applicant's training and knowledge through a skills assessment and a set of multiple-choice questions. They then must submit their applications through an online service administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).Students can improve their undergraduate preparation by volunteering. According to the BLS, medical school admissions boards may give preference to students who have completed volunteer hours throughout their undergraduate studies. Volunteering at a hospital or in a similar medical environment can help an aspiring neurologist stand out on his or her medical school application, while also gaining hands-on experience working with patients.Students can also participate in extracurricular activities. The BLS reports that extracurricular activities can help students demonstrate their leadership qualities. Joining honors societies, clubs, student-run publications, or other similar extracurricular activities can help an aspiring neurologist build essential skills and stand out when applying to medical schools.It might also be helpful to learn a foreign language. Neurologists may frequently work with patients who do not speak English, so learning a foreign language, such as Spanish, can help a candidate succeed in this field and may help him or her stand out over other medical school applicants.Graduate Education & ResidencyAspiring neurologists are required to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree by attending medical school. Most medical school programs last four years, with the first two years typically covering the basics of human anatomy and physiology. Courses may also delve into nutrition, immunology and ethics. During their third and fourth years, med students usually receive clinical training and participate in a clerkship that covers medical specializations, like family medicine, neurology or radiology.The National Board of Medical Examiners and the Federation of State Medical Boards administer the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners administers the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX). All aspiring physicians, including neurologists, must pass one of these exams prior to practicing medicine in the United States. Both tests come in multiple stages, beginning during medical school. The final stage can be taken right after medical school or within the first part of a residency program. Taking the test immediately after graduating from medical school may be beneficial, as internship and residency programs may rely on these scores for admissions.Aspiring neurologists begin their postgraduate training by entering a 1-year internship program in either internal medicine or surgery. Interns generally gain advanced experience with patients and specific healthcare practices through rotations. For example, while interns working in oncology may interact and provide treatment for cancer patients, those in the intensive care unit may receive instruction on protocols when caring for critically ill patients.After completing their internships, postgraduates will begin a 3-year neurology residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Neurology residents typically attend lectures, participate in patient rounds, and complete case studies of clinical scenarios. Through these activities, they gain experience with an assortment of neurological disorders and issues, such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and neuroradiology.Students may also consider a fellowship program. Neurologists seeking advanced training in a particular field of neurology might consider participating in a fellowship offered by a university medical facility or hospital. These programs generally last 1-2 years after a residency and offer extensive work and research opportunities with faculty and medical teams. Fellowships may be available in epilepsy, neurophysiology and other specialized areas of practice.Journey with Parkinson's (interesting site on developments)Beyond SchoolThe American Board of Psychology and Neurology (ABPN) offers voluntary certifications for qualified neurologists. Prospective candidates may become certified as neurologists or child neurologists after completing a certification examination. In order to take the exam, candidates must have completed an accredited medical school program, earned a medical license, and satisfied the ABPN training requirements. Once certified, neurologists participate in the ABPN 10-year certification maintenance program, which includes completing self-assessment activities and other ABPN components.Continuing education can help a neurologist stay up-to-date with trends, breakthroughs and advances in the field. In some cases, continuing education may even be required. For example, the ABPN 10-year certification maintenance program requires completion of continuing education opportunities to ensure certified neurologists are constantly learning and improving in their careers. Continuing education can be completed through classes hosted by professional organizations or university medical centers; opportunities may include classes, meetings, self-assessment and seminars.Neurologists are physicians that specialize in the nervous system. They require a residency and perhaps a fellowship beyond medical school.How to Apply for a Residency Step-by-Step Guide to Applying to a Neurology Residency ProgramNeurologyOverview of the SpecialtyThe specialty of neurology is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of nervous system disorders involving the brain, spinal cord and other nerve and muscular conditions as well as the blood vessels that relate to them. Many neurological problems are characterized by pain and can be chronic, debilitating and difficult to treat. Headaches, strokes and seizure disorders are typical conditions neurologists treat. A large portion of the practice of neurology is consultative, but the neurologist may also be the primary physician.Training RequirementsTraining generally consists of a minimum of four years of postgraduate education. Entry into a neurology residency training program is preceded by 12 months of ACGME-accredited graduate training in the United States or Canada, usually in general internal medicine. ACGME-approved residency training programs in neurology must provide three years of graduate education in neurology. There were 133 neurological residency training programs accredited by the ACGME for 2014/15 that offered 717 categorical/advanced positions.Matching Program Information and Match StatisticsNeurology training programs participate in the NRMP. Match results and competitiveness information for neurology residency training positions are summarized in U.S. Match Statistics table below.US Match StatisticsSubspecialty/fellowship training upon completion of a neurology residency training program is available in child neurology and clinical neurophysiology.Detailed information about the scope of these subspecialty training programs, number of positions offered and length of training is available in the GMED online database FREIDA.FREIDA Career Information FREIDA physician workforce information for each specialty includes statistical information on the number of positions/programs for residency training, resident work hours, resident work environment and compensation, employment status upon completion of program and work environment for those entering practice in each specialty.Washington University Resources Washington University Graduate Medical Education: GME Washington University Department Website: Department of Neurology

First, what is your current work profession? It matters whether you are a nurse, medical technologist, physical therapist etc.What do you aspire to become? Management, administrator? Do you want to remain in the medical field? Then MBA, MHA.If you want patient contact and not necessarily management, then PA.Both fields are way far apart, with different fulfillment. PA may be more financially rewarding initially.MBA route, to be successful you need to be savvy, versatile, political. A different skill set.Below are links about MBA/MHA, then Physician Assistant with job and salary outlooks.Good Luck!Top 20 Degree Programs for Master’s of Business Administration with a Specialization in Healthcare Management in 2015By Kristen FescoePublished April, 2015Students earning a graduate Healthcare Management degree have a variety of options for a fruitful career. A Master of Business of Administration with a Specialization in Healthcare Management is an excellent choice for individuals interested in the exciting field of Healthcare Management. Over the past twenty years, the field of Healthcare Management has seen a significant rise in available positions. In recent years, the changes to healthcare reform, the aging population, and the retirement of the “Baby Boom Generation” have left the healthcare industry with a boom in Healthcare Management and Administration positions. One of the most popular degrees sought after for a career in Healthcare Management is a Master of Business Administration with a specialization or concentration in Healthcare Management. This degree allows graduates to seek employment in hospitals, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation facilities, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and many more. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ 2014 edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Healthcare Management industry is predicted to grow a minimum of 23 percent with a median salary of $88,580 annually. This means that more and more trained healthcare managers will be needed to fill the rise in available jobs.Ranking MethodologyThis ranking list was created to outline the top-ranked MBA programs in the United States that offer a specialization in Healthcare Management or Administration. The most attention was paid to the 2014 US News and World Report list of top Graduate Business Programs, specifically MBA degree programs. Consideration was given to any commendations by other notable ranking bodies. The list was then ranked according to a combination of cost of attendance and accreditations granted to the academic institution. Specializations, awards and achievements earned by the school or department have also been noted.#20 – University of Washington – Seattle, WashingtonThe Foster School of Business and The School of Public HealthConcurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Health AdministrationMBA Program Website MHA Program WebsiteThe mission of the Master of Health Administration degree program at the University of Washington is to train the healthcare leaders of the future. The program is designed for early career professionals, utilizing a two-year, full-time program. Students are equipped with the management and leadership skills needed to start a career in healthcare administration and make an impact on the future of health care.The Foster MBA program offers a variety of certificates, programs and concurrent degrees that can be jointly pursued as electives. Over 20 months, full-time MBA students take integrated core coursework during their first year and choose from a wide variety of electives in the second year. The Healthcare Management MBA program requirements are:5 core courses1 leadership development course11 elective courses2 international perspective activities3 practical experience activitiesUS News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #23Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #52 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #16 Top Public SchoolFinancial Times Ranked #1 Best Full Time MBA in the Norwest RegionCost of Attendance: $27,861 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $41,037 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME)The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Concurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Health Administration#19 – Washington University – Saint Louis, MissouriThe Olin School of Business and the George Warren Brown School of Social WorkConcurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public HealthProgram WebsiteThe dual MBA/Master of Public Health (MBA/MPH) degree is designed to meet the growing need for individuals with strong business skills who are also health policy-minded leaders across the healthcare industry spectrum. The interdisciplinary program combines world-renowned faculty known for their academic research in business and public health, an innovative curriculum, and timely applied-learning experiences within the industry. The program combines the core courses of the MBA and Master of Public Health Degrees and takes approximately two-and-a-half to three years to complete. Students start the program in either school and stay in the school’s program for their first year. Students will participate in a summer internship that occurs after the first year of MBA courses and a practicum after the first year of MPH courses. MBA/MPH Students often pursue management roles in:HospitalsPharmaceutical firmsHealthcare consultanciesPolicy think tanksUS News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #22Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #14 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #26 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $49,700 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Concurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Health#18 – Emory University – Atlanta, GeorgiaThe Goizueta School of BusinessConcurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public HealthProgram WebsiteThe Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Public Health (MPH) program at Emory understands that as the United States healthcare system continues to change, it is becoming increasingly valuable for individuals interested in pursuing a career in the healthcare field to pursue a business education. Goizueta Business School students pursuing an interest in healthcare receive a highly respected interdisciplinary business education in an intimate learning environment. Students pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Health in the unique setting of Atlanta’s Clifton Corridor. The Clifton Corridor is home to the Emory University’s medical facilities, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. The MBA/MPH Program is associated with the Departments of Health Policy Management, Global Health, or Epidemiology in the Rollins School of Public Health and Goizueta’s Two Year MBA Program. It is important that students begin the MBA/MPH program at Goizueta Business School. Otherwise, it will require an extra semester to graduate. The program can be completed in as little as five semesters depending upon the course load and whether a student chooses to complete a master’s thesis for the MPH degree.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #20Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #20 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #19 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $46,000 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Concurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Health#17 – University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, North CarolinaThe UNC Kenan-Flagler School of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Master of Business Administration program at UNC was created to address the fact that the modern healthcare industry needs skilled and effective business leaders with creative problem-solving and leadership skills. The UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School recognizes the demand for these highly skilled professionals. The program focuses on developing skilled professionals who are ready to take on the many challenges facing professionals in the healthcare industry. Healthcare professionals with experience in private and public healthcare organizations and the medical community are encouraged to apply to this enrichment program to further expand their entrepreneurial and strategic leadership opportunities. Additionally, this program will provide a solid framework for those with life sciences degrees or those with a passion for the healthcare industry. UNC Kenan-Flagler has teamed with UNC’s School of Medicine to create a multidisciplinary curriculum focused on medical entrepreneurship and innovation. This partnership joins the strengths of both schools to better educate the healthcare executives of tomorrow across functional areas, and to bring collaborative and innovative solutions that improve care and reduce costs to the industry. This program is an affordable graduate Healthcare Management degree program for state residents.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #19Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #30 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #5 Top Public SchoolUS News and World Report Ranked #17 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $31,510 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $50,942 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with a Specialization in Healthcare#16 – Carnegie Mellon University – Pittsburg, PennsylvaniaThe Tepper School of Business and The H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and ManagementConcurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Healthcare Policy ManagementProgram WebsiteThe Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Science in Healthcare Policy Management (MSHCPM) joint degree program is a concurrent 2.5-year (5 semester) program beginning in August. The program was designed to educate future healthcare leaders about the economic, political and financial environment in which healthcare is delivered and to better understand how to manage and lead organizations across healthcare in the future. The Tepper School of Business and the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management offer this program jointly. Students begin their studies at Tepper and must complete 162 units of courses, which includes 90 units of required core courses and 72 units of required electives. Students must also meet all MBA requirements such as Management Game, Core Elective Requirements, Concentrations and Breath. Students are required to take 180 units of course work at Heinz which includes 120 units of Heinz required courses and 60 units of electives which could be taken in the MBA program and count towards satisfaction of the MSHCPM requirement.In the first year, students will pay tuition for two semesters to Tepper at the MBA full-time rate. In the second year, students will pay tuition for two semesters to Heinz at the full-time rate. For the final semester (5th) students will pay for one semester to Tepper at the MBA full-time rate.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #18Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #23 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #39 Best Value SchoolUS News and World Report Ranked #14 Up and Coming SchoolCost of Attendance: $56,768 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (MSACSC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Joint Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Healthcare Policy Management (MSHCPM)#15 – Cornell University – Ithaca, New YorkThe Johnson School of BusinessJoint Master of Business Administration and Master of Health AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe combination of Cornell’s Sloan Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree and the Master of Business Administration from Johnson—complete in as little as two years—combines a strong foundation in general management with specialized skills and know-how in healthcare. Students gain the necessary knowledge, important skills, and applied experience so that dual-degree graduates have a clear edge over their competition and great flexibility in shaping an innovative and meaningful career. In addition to management positions in a wide range of healthcare organizations, graduates of this program also hold positions in the pharmaceutical industry, health insurance, management consulting, financial institutions, state and federal policy agencies, and several other fields. The Johnson MBA provides a solid foundation in all the functional areas of business—accounting, finance, economics, marketing, operations management, strategy, and leadership. The school offers students the ability to tailor their own curriculum and the chance to develop expertise in specialized areas that, when combined with healthcare, can provide unique and highly valuable strengths. Among these are entrepreneurship, consulting, finance, and sustainable global enterprise.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #17Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #16 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #9 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $55,948 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME)Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Joint Master of Business Administration and Master of Health Administration#14 – University of California -Los Angeles, CaliforniaUCLA Anderson School of ManagementMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteUCLA Anderson School of Management offers an MBA program with optional tracks and specialization areas. Students can choose to specialize in healthcare as well as another specific area of concentration. During the first year, students are allowed to create a customized sequence of core courses elected from the mandated MBA curriculum. During the second year, students have the option to pursue tracks and specializations through carefully chosen elective courses. The goal of the elective courses is to allow students to complete the requirements for one of four tracks, which build in-depth expertise in a specific career path. Students can also add a specialization area to further customize their academic preparation according to industry and function. The tracks provide MBA students with the necessary guidance to plan the best academic path to meet post-MBA goals. Each track requires the completion of five courses from a list of suggestions that have been carefully chosen by faculty, alumni practitioners and recruiters. The Healthcare Management
 Sample Courses include Business of Healthcare – Global Perspective, Health Law, and Quantitative Analysis for Health Systems.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #16Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #23 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #2 Top Public SchoolCost of Attendance: $48,722 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $55,009 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Senior College and University Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Specialization in Healthcare Management#13 – The University of Texas – Austin, TexasThe McCombs School of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe McCombs School of Business offers a Master of Business Administration with a Healthcare Concentration. This degree program prepares students for careers in the healthcare, life science, and biotechnology industries. These healthcare-related industries are vibrant and constantly changing, requiring adaptive individuals to fill positions. Healthcare companies are seeking MBAs who not only have solid business skills, but also a deep understanding of the technology and policy aspects impacting their industry. The Healthcare Concentration at McCombs provides students with the opportunity to combine courses across various schools and disciplines to best prepare for their career of choice. McCombs MBA students also have the opportunity to connect with Austin’s booming Biotech industry through the Austin Technology Incubator, American College of Healthcare Executives, and a variety of on- and off-campus opportunities. In order to fulfill the Healthcare Concentration, students must complete the basic MBA curriculum as well as complete four of the following courses:Managing ComplexityMarketing High-Tech ProductsAdvanced Pharmaceutical Admin: Contemporary IssuesPharmacoeconomicsBudget and Finance in HealthcareTheories and Critical Issues in Public HealthManaging Health InformationInformation Resources in Health SciencesHealth LawHealth Innovation & PolicySpecial Studies in Business Administration (course related to healthcare and approved by MBA Program Office)US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #15Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #52 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #16 Top Public SchoolUS News and World Report Ranked #2 Best College for VeteransCost of Attendance: $33,298 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $48,832 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Healthcare Concentration#12 – Duke University – Durham, North CarolinaThe Fuqua School of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Duke MBA Health Sector Management (HSM) program is the largest health industry program among top US business schools. The program offers interdisciplinary studies that utilize Duke University’s longstanding leadership in business education, research, and clinical care. Students work closely alongside faculty and industry leaders to explore health care’s most pressing issues, among them service delivery models, financing alternatives, patient and provider relationships, and organizational processes. With their understanding of the industry, extensive skill sets, and professional network, HSM graduates become leaders of consequence within the global health sector.HSM Certificates are offered across Fuqua’s MBA degree programs:The Duke MBA—Daytime Health Sector Management: a full-time residency program that immerses students in healthcare issues.The Duke MBA—Cross Continent Health Sector Management: a program that combines online learning with residencies across the globe.The Duke MBA—Weekend Executive Health Sector Management: a program for professionals who seek a Duke MBA while continuing to work full time.The Duke MBA—Global Executive Health Sector Management: a program for experienced professionals that combines online learning with international residencies.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #14Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #7 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #12 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $55,300 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Specialization in Health Sector Management#11 – Yale University – New Haven, ConnecticutThe School of ManagementMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Executive MBA: Leadership in Healthcare program is a twenty-two-month MBA program created by healthcare professionals for working healthcare professionals who aspire to become leaders and innovators in the healthcare industry. Students spend two periods “in residence” and every other weekend (Friday and Saturday) on the Yale School of Management campus. The program follows the same curriculum as the full-time MBA program at the School of Management. In the first year, students devote the majority of their time to the core MBA curriculum. Rounding out the curriculum in the second year, along with advanced management courses, are healthcare-specific courses to provide a complementary focus on healthcare management.In addition, the Leadership in Healthcare curriculum includes:The Colloquium in Healthcare Leadership, which brings prominent business leaders from across all areas of healthcare to present and meet with students.An Independent Study program to engage students in project-based opportunities.The optional International Experience, which exposes students to broader global issues of international business.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #13Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #3 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #2 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $57,200 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Executive Master of Business Administration with Specialization in Leadership in Healthcare#10 – The University of Virginia – Charlottesville, VirginiaThe Darden School of Business, The Department of Public Health Sciences and The School of MedicineMaster of Business AdministrationMBA Program WebsiteMBA/MPH Program WebsiteThe Master of Business Administration in Healthcare program prepares students to become leaders in pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology and health services sectors as well as in health-care related pursuits in consulting, banking, venture capital and entrepreneurship. In the first year of study, Darden teaches students core managerial concepts in operations, strategy, finance, leadership and ethics. In the second year, students are encouraged to explore their own interests, pursuing opportunities that enable them to apply their understanding of business to the changing landscape of the healthcare industry.Students may also choose an optional MBA/MPH dual-degree program. Students earning their MBA and MPH degrees concurrently have the opportunity to work with faculty from the Darden Business School, Department of Public Health Sciences and School of Medicine to focus on the management of healthcare-related businesses and models for addressing health. Foci can include healthcare delivery systems, biotechnology, medical devices, translational research, health policy, and regulation. This affordable Healthcare Management MBA offers state residents an excellent option.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: Tied for #11Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #23 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #2 Top Public SchoolUS News and World Report Ranked #25 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $48,402 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $52,720 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with specialization in HealthcareConcurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Health#9 – University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MichiganThe Stephen M. Ross School of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Stephen M. Ross School of Business created a unique concentration in Health Care Management for students looking to combine their interest in business with their interest in the healthcare field. The concentration allows students to complement the MBA curriculum with healthcare-related electives and activities outside the classroom. The combination of the curriculum, electives and experiential activities will help students become leaders in the healthcare industry. Students pursuing the Health Care Management concentration are required to take twelve credits of healthcare-related coursework, of which three must be taken in a department outside of Ross. Students will use their available elective credits to complete the concentration within the 57 credits required for the MBA degree.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: Tied for #11Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #28 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #4 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $52,200 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $57,200 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Specialization in Health Care Management#8 – New York University – New, York, New YorkLeonard N. Stern School of BusinessConcurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe MBA/MPA degree program at NYU’s Stern School of Business is designed to reflect the growing societal need for managers and executives with both practical business training and a thorough understanding of public sector management. This dual-degree program produces graduates who are ready to make an immediate impact on institutions needing strong leadership. The MBA/MPA program is a partnership between NYU Stern School of Business and the Wagner School of Public Service, and is designed for students with interests spanning business, public administration, public health and non-profit management. Students have the ability to complete both degrees over the course of three years, rather than the four years that it would take to complete the degree programs independently. The first year of the dual degree program is spent at NYU Stern, and the second and third years are split between the two schools.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #10Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #32 Best National UniversityCost of Attendance: $57,468 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME)The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (MSACSC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Concurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration#7 – Dartmouth College – Hanover, New HampshireThe Tuck College of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe focus of the graduate healthcare management degree program at the Tuck College of Business is to maintain a small, intimate student body, a residential experience, and access to a world-class faculty. Students at Tuck profit from plentiful resources and individualized attention from faculty members and mentors dedicated to help each student realize their career and personal goals. The College promotes the mission “We learn what we live: collaboration and leadership, respect and responsibility, ethics and stewardship.” The Healthcare elective program is gained by way of elective courses. Some of the recent offerings include:Business of HealthcareContemporary Issues in BiotechInnovation & Health Care InformationInternational Health SystemsInvesting & Deal Making in Healthcare: Practitioners’ PerspectiveManagement of Healthcare OrganizationsMedical Care & the CorporationStructure, Organization, and Economics of the Healthcare IndustryUS News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #9Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #10 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #8 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $58,935 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Healthcare Master of Business Administration#6 – Columbia University – New York, New YorkThe Columbia Business SchoolMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe MBA Health and Pharmaceutical Management (HPM) program at Columbia permits students to tailor their healthcare business education to their specific interests and goals. The healthcare courses, which are all electives and experiential in nature, integrate disciplines such as strategy, management, economics, finance, marketing and operations. Healthcare electives complement Columbia Business School’s world-renowned MBA curriculum, made up of functional disciplines within multiple healthcare sectors, and studied on a global basis from the perspective of industry executives and investors. Each part of the curriculum is taught by a combined team of several experienced healthcare executives and esteemed faculty and infuses topics of international significance into the classroom such as:The Healthcare Industry in the 21st CenturyStrategy and Competition in Pharmaceuticals and BiotechnologyEconomics of Healthcare and PharmaceuticalsPrivate Health Insurance and Public PolicyHealthcare Investment and Deal MakingForecasting for Drug Development StrategyInvesting in Medical TechnologiesUS News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #8Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #4 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #6 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $60,720 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (MSACSC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration in Health and Pharmaceutical ManagementExecutive Master of Business Administration in Health and Pharmaceutical Management#5 – University of California – Berkley, CaliforniaThe Haas School of Business and The UC Berkeley School of Public HealthMaster of Business Administration and Concurrent Master of Business Administration and Master of Public HealthMBA in Health Management Program WebsiteConcurrent MBA and MPH Program WebsiteThe MBA in Health Management Program at the Haas School of Business prepares Berkeley MBA students to become leaders who will deliver both insightful and practical solutions in the healthcare field. The accredited graduate healthcare management program balances California’s innovative managed care system, advances in the Internet, and biotechnology industries as laboratories for education and research. Leading UC Berkeley academic researchers from the business and public health schools, as well as prominent industry practitioners, teach in the program. There are a number of courses in health management offered at the Haas School of Business, as well as at the School of Public Health, including Healthcare in the 21st Century, Development of Biopharmaceuticals, Health Finance, and many others. Beyond regular coursework, speakers are frequently invited to talk to students.The Haas School of Business and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health worked together to create an interdisciplinary program that trains future leaders in the expanding health management field. In the two and a half year MBA/MPH concurrent degree program, students earn both the MBA and Masters of Public Health degrees. Students participate in courses in both schools, as well as complete a three-month internship in a health organization. The program prepares graduates for senior positions in health-related industries, including:Managed care and insuranceConsultingHealthcare deliveryBiotechnologyE-healthMedical devicesPharmaceuticalsUS News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #7Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #20 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #1 Top Public SchoolCost of Attendance: $51,412 in-state, full-time, annual tuition / $53,959 out-of-state, full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Senior College and University Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration in Health ManagementConcurrent Master of Business Administration in Health Management and Master of Public Health#4 – Northwestern University – Evanston, IllinoisThe Kellogg School of ManagementMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Kellogg School of Management’s Health Enterprise Management (HEMA) major meets the needs of any management student who plans to work in either the services or products side of the health industry. Leading scholars in a wide range of academic fields teach much of the HEMA curriculum. Practitioners who have reached the very top of their profession in the healthcare industry teach additional HEMA classes. All of the course offerings emphasize the importance of translating fundamental management principles into state-of-the-art tools for practitioners. Graduates with this specialization are prepared to compete successfully for jobs in provider, insurer and supplier organizations, as well as in consulting, investment banking and other related sectors of the economy. The HEMA major combines flexibility with depth. The cornerstone of the HEMA major is the introductory core course, which presents a body of common knowledge necessary to anyone managing in the health sector. Students must take three additional courses from a varied list, many of which emphasize specific themes common to many services and product areas of healthcare. There are no prerequisites for the major and students with no prior experience in the health sector are invited to take graduate Healthcare Management degree program courses.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #6Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #12 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #21 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $59,085 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Health Enterprise Management Concentration#3 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, MassachusettsSloan School of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Business School MBA program has recognized the growing need for individuals to fill roles as healthcare managers and administrators by creating the MBA/Healthcare Certificate program. The national and international healthcare industry and health management-related changes and evolution have created a unique opportunity for MIT Sloan students and faculty to make an important impact on the world through innovative research and educational activities. Both students and faculty who are interested in healthcare and health management become part of this growing and interesting community. Opportunities are becoming prolific for MIT Sloan graduates in various career paths within the healthcare ecosystem and related industries. The Healthcare Certificate’s curriculum and requirements prepare students for career paths such as the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries, healthcare consulting, management positions within healthcare delivery systems, healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship, and global healthcare delivery.The Healthcare Certificate will:Provide students with a structured and hands-on educational experience that is sufficiently flexible to promote their needs and desires with respect to the range of related career paths.Create a network of students, faculty and industry partners that will facilitate action-based educational, research and knowledge creation activities, as well as professional employment and hiring opportunities.Leverage the unique MIT culture of integration between management, engineering and the sciences.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: #5Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #7 Best National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #5 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $61,152 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Certification in HealthcareExecutive Master of Business Administration with Certification in Healthcare#2 – University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaWharton School of BusinessMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteA graduate Healthcare Management degree prepares interested students for careers in the pharmaceutical sector, biotech health services, government agencies, insurance organizations, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and consulting firms that specialize in the healthcare sector. 

Graduates of this specialized MBA program are very well prepared to fill executive roles in the various organizations and specialties that make up this important industry of healthcare. The healthcare industry is one that is constantly changing due to innovations in science and technology, economic factors, human demand, and governmental and social policy. Graduates have gone on to careers in pharmaceutical and medical product companies, financial services, hospitals and other medical institutions, entrepreneurial ventures, consulting firms, foundations, industry, and government — many of them holding positions as chief executive officers, directors, and other key decision makers.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: Tied for #1Additional Rankings or Commendations:Cost of Attendance: $59,736 full-time annual tuitionAccreditations:The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (MSACSC)The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management#1 – Harvard University – Boston, MassachusettsHarvard Business SchoolMaster of Business AdministrationProgram WebsiteThe Master of Business Administration with the Health Care Initiative offered by the Harvard Business School (HBS) connects the business community, including MBA students, alumni, faculty, staff, and Executive Education participants, to ideas, resources, and opportunities for collaboration that have created new initiatives for health care practice. The Healthcare Initiative program was created in 2005 to serve as a pathway for healthcare research, educational programs, and entrepreneurial projects across all sectors of the health care industry, from life sciences and medical devices to care delivery and public health policy. Through this powerful connection between students and faculty across Harvard University and beyond, HBS promotes leadership that makes an immediate and permanent impact on healthcare practices to improve outcomes, reduce costs, expand access and enhance services.US News and World Report Best Business School Ranking: Tied for #1Additional Rankings or Commendations:US News and World Report Ranked #2 National UniversityUS News and World Report Ranked #1 Best Value SchoolCost of Attendance: $56,175 full-time, annual tuitionAccreditations:The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)Degrees or Specializations Offered:Master of Business Administration with Health Care InitiativeOpportunities for a Master of Business Administration with a Concentration in Healthcare ManagementWith changes in healthcare policy, a boom in the American healthcare industry, and the retirement of the “Baby Boom Generation,” more and more skilled Healthcare Managers will be needed to fill these new positions. An MBA with a Concentration in Healthcare Management means that a graduate has gained the skills to understand the business of running a healthcare facility. The curriculum typically covers such traditional MBA topics as Accounting, Economics, Finance, General Management, Human and Organizational Performance, Marketing, Operations and Business Strategy. Students earning a concentration in Healthcare Management or Administration are also exposed to coursework such as Medical Ethics, Healthcare Industry Management and many others. This combined curriculum prepares students for the diverse and challenging healthcare industry. By earning a Master of Business Administration with a Specialization in Healthcare Management, students have the tools necessary to be successful Health Managers and Executives. A graduate Healthcare Management degree opens many doors for an exciting and rewarding career.For More on the Best MBA Programs in Healthcare Management, Please Refer to the Following Articles:Top 20 Part-Time Degree Programs for Master’s of Business Administration with a Specialization in Healthcare ManagementAbout the AuthorAfter earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University and then a Master of Science in Clinical and Forensic Psychology from Drexel University, Kristen Fescoe began a career as a therapist at two prisons in Philadelphia. At the same time she volunteered as a rape crisis counselor, also in Philadelphia. After a few years in the field she accepted a teaching position at a local college, where she currently teaches online psychology courses. Kristen began writing in college and still enjoys her work as a writer, editor, professor and mother.By Kristen FescoePublished April, 20155+ Top MBA Healthcare Management Careers + Salary OutlookSimmons' online Master of Public Health program, MPH@Simmons, is designed to give you the real-world skills you need to address health inequity on a local, national, and global scale. You'll learn core public health methodology, leadership, and advocacy skills needed to improve population health equity. No GRE required. Request Information.Is your career goal to by the leader of a hospital, medical clinic or medical office? If so, then you should strongly consider earning an MBA in Healthcare Management. Effective healthcare administrators are very important to the successful management of all types of medical-related organizations today. See also 9+ Online MBA Healthcare Management Degrees from Non-ProfitsYouTube Special FeatureNaman Mahajan says he thinks Healthcare Administration professionals need the MBA and his experiences in the 7-month paid residency that is part of Baylor’s MBA program with Healthcare Administration specialization.Because of the high level of demand for expert healthcare managers with an MBA, this speciality offers strong career growth and good salaries. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the demand for medical and health services managers will increase by 22% by 2020. BLS also reports that the median salary in the field generally is $84,270. The top 10%, almost always with at least a master’s degree, earn more than $144,000.BLS also reported that compensation for medical and health services managers depends somewhat on the size of the facility. For administrators in a medical practice with six or fewer doctors, the median salary was $86,459. For those with 7-25 doctors, it was $115,000, and for practices with 26+ doctors, the median salary was $150,726.Top MBA Healthcare Management Careers and SalariesSalaries also will vary depending on what type of healthcare management role you seek. You will find the best career options and salaries in these MBA health management jobs:#1 Hospital CEOIt is of great importance for a hospital to be run in as highly a cost effective manner as is possible. In a CFO role, you are responsible for managing all of the finances of your health care organization. You also are responsible for a lot of the financial plans and keeping of records. You also will need to do budgets, negotiate new contracts with vendors, figure out how to save money in the organization, and choose top executives for key hospital roles.Median salary: $166,000Indeed.com states that the average salary in this position is $106,000:#2 Hospital AdministratorWork behind the scenes to make all types of health care facilities work as efficiently as is possible. Many hospital administrators work in nursing homes, hospitals or outpatient clinics. You can expect to work on hiring doctors, developing budgets, coming up with new policies for QA and patient services, promoting and implementing new sorts of medical treatments, and assuring compliance with government guidelines.Median salary: $110,000.Indeed.com states that the average salary in this field is $82,000. Keep in mind that that number likely includes professionals without a master’s degree:#3 Hospital CFOA CFO ensures that a hospital is run in the most cost efficient manner as possible. You are mainly charged with the task of managing all financial risks for the company. You also must handle most of the planning of finances and keeping of records. You will probably need to report the financial status of the hospital to the CEO and other upper management.Median salary: $155,000.Indeed.com states that the average salary for hospital CFOs is $106,000:#4 Pharmaceutical Product ManagerWith your healthcare management MBA, you can work as a manager in the pharmaceutical industry. There you will analyze investments, review market data, and come up with new promotions for new drugs and devices. If you are interested in this field, you should try to gain a few years of consulting experience, and also have significant leadership experience.Median salary: $92,000.Indeed.com states that the average salary for pharmaceutical managers is $90,000:#5 Medical Practice ManagerA medical practice manager deals with many of the same issues that a hospital administrator does, but on a smaller scale. You will work on budgets, billing, hiring and managing staff, legal compliance, HIPAA compliance, managing schedules and ordering supplies.Median salary: $81,000.Indeed.com states that the average salary for medical practice managers is $79,000:#6 Health Informatics ManagerYou will work in a medical organization or hospital and manage the information flow with high effeciency. You must ensure that all data is provided to the proper parts of the organization accurately. You also must make sure that all computer hardware and software is working and is processing all data properly.Median salary: $84,000Indeed.com states that the average salary for health informatics manager is $89,000:By choosing one of these growing health care management fields, you can really put your new MBA to use and make a great living.Physician Assistant | explorehealthcareers.orgAVERAGE SALARY $94,348YEARS HIGHER EDUCATION 6-7JOB OUTLOOK ExcellentIn its 2016 ranking of best health care jobs, U.S. News and World Report ranked physician assistant (PA) fourth in best health care jobs. Physician assistants are medical providers who are licensed to diagnose and treat illness and disease and to prescribe medication for patients. They work in physician offices, hospitals and clinics in collaboration with a licensed physician.The physician-PA relationship is fundamental to the profession and enhances the delivery of high-quality health care. Because of their advanced education in general medicine, modeled after physician education, physician assistants can treat patients with significant autonomy.In a primary care setting, physician assistants can provide nearly all of the clinical services a physician does, including:Take medical historiesPerform physical examsOrder and interpret laboratory testsDiagnose and treat illnessesCounsel patientsAssist in surgerySet fracturesEvery day, thousands of people have access to quality health care because there are physician assistants in their communities. Physician assistants are critical to increasing access to care for rural and other underserved patients as they are often the only health providers in these areas. Nearly 300 million patient visits were made to physician assistants, and approximately 332 million medications were prescribed or recommended by physician assistants in 2008.Physician assistants also work in specialties outside of primary care, including medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties.In 2014, physician assistants held 94,400 jobs, with physician’s offices employing 57% of physician assistants and hospitals employing 22%. Seven percent were employed in outpatient care centers, 3% by government entities and 3% in educational services (state, local and private).Working Conditions | Academic Requirements | ResourcesWorking ConditionsPhysician assistants usually work in a comfortable, well-lighted environment. Those in surgery often stand for long periods, and others may do considerable walking.Schedules will vary according to practice setting or may depend on the hours of the collaborating physician. The workweek of physician assistants may include weekends, nights and early morning hospital rounds to visit patients. They may also be on call at certain times, including nights and weekends.Salary Range and OutlookThe Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 30% job growth rate for the profession through 2024. In addition to demand, the job is attractive because:The average length of a physician assistant graduate program is only 27 months.The median salary is $98,180, according to the BLS.It offers the flexibility to move into different areas of medicine without additional education and training.Academic RequirementsTo practice as a physician assistant, you must graduate from an accredited PA program, pass the national certification exam and obtain a license in the state in which you wish to practice. You cannot bypass any of those steps and must complete them in order.It is important to carefully review the prerequisite course requirements of all programs because they may vary, in some cases greatly. In general, requirements may include a completed bachelor’s degree, science and non-science prerequisites courses, minimum GPAs, health care experience and standardized exams.Science courses may include but are not limited to:AnatomyBiochemistryBiologyChemistryGeneticsMicrobiology or bacteriologyOrganic chemistryPhysicsPhysiologyNon-science courses may include but are not limited to:CalculusCollege-level algebraEnglish compositionHumanitiesLiteratureMedical terminologyPsychologySociologySpeechStatisticsTechnical writingThe number of accredited PA programs has increased from 196 in 2015 to 210 in 2016 and over 90% of programs offer a master’s degree. The remainder of PA programs offer either a bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree or certificate of completion, all of which are acceptable to qualify for the certification exam, licensing and eventual practice. Starting in 2020, all PA programs will be required to offer a master’s degree upon completion of and graduation from a PA program.The Physician Assistant Education Association provides a list of PA programs. The list is updated in May each year and can be used to search for programs and to compare admissions criteria.The Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) makes it easy to apply to multiple PA programs using a single application, one set of transcripts, one set of letters of recommendation and one personal statement. The CASPA Facebook page provides additional information about the application cycle and the process of applying.Learn More About a Career as a Physician AssistantWatch a video about physician assistants.Read more about what physician assistants do and listen to the reasons they love their job.Follow the PA Focus blog and Facebook page to learn more about PA careers and applying to PA programs.ResourcesAccreditation Review Commission on Education for Physician AssistantsAmerican Academy of Physician AssistantsCentral Application Service for Physician AssistantsNational Commission on Certification of Physician AssistantsPhysician Assistant Education AssociationThe Physician Assistant Education Association reviewed this career profile.Physician AssistantA Day in the Life of a Physician AssistantLike the physicians they serve, physician assistants (PAs) can follow many career paths, including university hospital work, private practice, and jobs with health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Basically, wherever there are doctors, there are physician assistants. University hospital work means working alongside doctors and other PAs, splitting time between treatment, aiding in research and instruction (more experienced PAs manage less experienced PAs). Depending on the size of the private practice, PAs are more likely to spend the majority of their time working directly with doctors, handling patients, lab tests, and paper work. PAs who work for an HMO are part of the large corporate medicine machine that not only provides the patients, but also most likely assigns PAs to the physicians they will assist. Currently, 50 percent of all PAs practice primary care medicine, which is family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. Just more than 20 percent focus their talents in surgery or the surgical subspecialties. Although family and emergency medicine attract the most PAs, many also specialize in dermatology, psychiatry, radiology, and pathology. The physician’s assistant license allows licensees to practice medicine only under supervision, while always working for at least one physician and carrying a significant portion of the physician’s massive work load. Although a 1997 American Academy of Physician Assistants survey found that the median number of work hours was forty-two, this number nearly almost doubled, to eighty hours per week, for those PAs on call. Work in this profession is rewarding, but can be very demanding. Common services provided by PAs include taking medical histories, performing physical exams, ordering and interpreting lab tests, diagnosing and treating illnesses, assisting in surgery, prescribing and dispensing medication, and counseling patients.Paying Your DuesCompetition is tough: Nurses, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and paramedics most commonly apply to PA programs in order to become certified physician assistants. The typical applicant to a PA program has a bachelor’s degree (they also need to have followed a premed track as an undergraduate) and more than four years of health care experience. For those interested in becoming PAs but who haven’t followed the traditional science route in college, a post-baccalaureate program may be the answer. Many universities have programs where students can take all the undergraduate sciences courses in one post-baccalaureate program. Because PAs are going to be in a close working relationship with physicians, they are educated in a medical model designed to complement physician training. Once candidates have been accepted to a PA program the average curriculum stretches over 108 weeks of intensive medical study, compared with 153 weeks for medical school. During that time PA students will be sharing many classes and rotations in clinical medicine with medical students who are going for an M.D., and the work is stressful and difficult. The education itself consists of classroom and laboratory instruction in basic medical and behavioral sciences (such as anatomy, pharmacology, and clinical medicine), followed by rotations in internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, and geriatric medicine. After completing the coursework required in a PA program, graduates still have to pass a national certification exam. Graduation from an accredited physician assistant program and passage of the certifying exam are required for state licensure. All that and they still aren’t done. PAs are required to take ongoing medical education classes (at least 100 hours of classroom time every two years) and must retake the certification test every six years to maintain their national certification.Present and FutureIn 1965 Eugene Stead, M.D., of Duke University Medical Center, assembled the first class of PAs to address the shortage and uneven distribution of primary care physicians. This first class was comprised of a Navy corps that had received medical training during their military service in Vietnam and came home to discover a lack of comparable civilian employment. Physicians quickly warmed to the new profession; PAs provided them with knowledgeable, efficient, and much needed help. Since then PAs have become a staple of the medical work force. There are now 31,000 PAs working in the U.S., practicing in every field of medicine. Job growth in the field of physician assistants is expected to outpace total employment growth by 9 percent over the next eight years. Even now, the majority of PAs are concentrated in primary care areas, leaving a lot of room for PAs in other fields. Less than 1 percent of PAs work in the fields of anesthesiology, pathology, psychiatry, and pediatric endocrinology, which means that demand for PAs is currently great, and will only become greater in the years to come. Demand is greatest in rural areas and inner cities.Quality of LifePRESENT AND FUTUREIn the early years of their careers, PAs will still be on a learning curve, gaining valuable experience in techniques for dealing with patients and the intricacies of applied medicine. They will also be discovering fields they might want to specialize in as their careers continue. As with most professions, incomes for PAs tend to increase with years of experience, but it is important to note that larger increases in income tend to come near the beginning of a PA’s career. In a 1997 report on PA salaries, those with one to three years of experience saw their income increase an average of 4.4 percent. PAs also won’t have the same potentially immense debt that medical students will have accrued, making their dollars stretch farther.FIVE YEARS OUTAs the profession requires, PAs will have had an ongoing medical education throughout their career and by now should be approaching the time where they will have to take the certification exam a second time to keep their licenses. At this point, many PAs have had enough hands-on experience (hopefully backed up with good old-fashioned book learning) that they can now specialize. A PA’s specialty has a significant impact on earnings. Currently, the highest paid PA specialists are in surgical subspecialties (earning $70,000 or more). Many may also find themselves managing other PAs. They have experience and are enjoying the benefits of managerial status.TEN YEARS OUTAn experienced PA, whether a specialist in emergency medicine or in general pediatrics, is a valuable PA, and his income will reflect this. Without a doubt, PAs can act in a managerial capacity for any health care organization that employs PAs and would also be a valued asset to any private practice. In short, PAs are a commodity in demand and in whatever way they are pursuing their career, most PAs will be in a good position, both in terms of choosing where to work and the remuneration they can expect.MAJORSPhysician AssistantRELATED GRADUATE PROGRAMSPhysician AssistantPhysician Assistant Ranks Among Best Jobs of 2016Physician Assistant Overview#4 in Best Health Care Jobs| Overall Score 7.8 / 10MOREOverviewSalaryReviews and AdviceJob ListingsOverviewPhysician assistants diagnose illnesses, develop and carry out treatment plans, assist in surgeries, perform procedures and guide patients. Jeffrey Katz, president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), says, “I diagnose and treat patients, illnesses and diseases and counsel them on their path to wellness.”Their work is very similar to that of a general internist or doctor, but they are required by law to practice under the supervision of a licensed physician or surgeon. Often, this supervision is more like collaboration, but there are certain archaic regulations that make life for physician assistants – and their patients – difficult. “To give a real-life example of these arbitrary regulations, in my practice, I can write a patient a prescription for morphine,” Katz explains. “However by law, I cannot prescribe my diabetic patients diabetic shoes.”“Often the stress comes in when PAs are not able to practice to the full extent of their training, education and ability,” Katz says.But the profession is filled with rewards that come from helping and treating patients. A 2015 AAPA study found that more than 96 percent would recommend their physician assistant career to others. Katz has worked in the same family practice in Taylorsville, North Carolina, for more than 20 years and has seen generations of families. “It is really cool to see the children of children. … I don’t think there’s any better gift,” he says.The U.S. is currently facing a shortage of health care professionals, and physician assistants – who are a cost-effective alternative to general internists – are needed to fill the void. From 2012 to 2022, the BLS projects that this field will grow at a rate of 38.4 percent, which will shake out into 33,300 new jobs for physician assistants.Quick Stats$95,820 MEDIAN SALARY0.2% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE28,700 NUMBER OF JOBSRankingsPhysician Assistants rank #4 in Best Health Care Jobs. Jobs are ranked according to their ability to offer an elusive mix of factors. Read more about how we rank the best jobs.Physician Assistants are ranked:#4 in Best Health Care Jobs#5 in The 100 Best Jobs7.8 OverallSCORECARDSalary 7.7Job Market 10Future Growth 10Stress 4Work Life Balance 8Read about how we rank the best jobs.SalaryPhysician assistants made a median salary of $95,820 in 2014. They were compensated the best in the metropolitan areas of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Longview, Texas; and South Bend, Indiana. The sectors that tend to pay their physician assistants very well include consulting services and home health care services.75th Percentile$114,760Median$95,82025th Percentile$82,090Average Physician Assistant Pay vs. Other Best JobsPhysician assistants made an average salary of $97,280 in 2014. Nurse practitioners made a similar salary of $97,990 in the same year. General internists/physicians, however, made much more, with an average wage of $190,530 in 2014. Registered nurses made less than these professionals, with a mean salary of $69,790.Best Paying Cities for Physician AssistantsThe highest paid in the physician assistant profession work in the metropolitan areas of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Longview, Texas, and South Bend, Indiana. The Brownsville, Texas area also pays well, as does the city of Santa Rosa, California.TOP 5 BEST PAYING CITIES FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS1 of 5Santa Fe, New MexicoThe average salary of a physician assistant working in Santa Fe, New Mexico is $153,010.See Job OpeningsLongview, TexasThe average salary of a physician assistant working in Longview, Texas is $151,670.See Job OpeningsSouth Bend, IndianaThe average salary of a physician assistant working in South Bend, Indiana is $147,900.See Job OpeningsBrownsville, TexasThe average salary of a physician assistant working in Brownsville, Texas is $144,370.See Job OpeningsSanta Rosa, CaliforniaThe average salary of a physician assistant working in Santa Rosa, California is $133,910.See Job OpeningsSimilar JobsNurse PractitionerMedian Salary $95,350#5 in Health CarePhysicianMedian Salary $187,199#15 in Health Care