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Doing a PhD is a common practice within the US for a lot of Chinese graduates who like to relearn medicine in English and then apply for the US residency matchIn the biomedical field there are essentially two possibilities, one where you pursue research and one where you practice clinical medicine. Both have their ups and downs and none is greater than the other.There is the 3rd possibility, that of a Medical Scientist or the titular MD PhDs.This is something I'm applying for, since I've worked for a year as a preliminary resident in IM and have found the general practice of medicine in the US becoming a battle of prior authorizations and billing based and being driven by monetary gain rather than the need to do good. Life's great if you make it into Surgery, Interventional or EP Cardiology or Pulmonary Medicine and Critical care… but less so if you're stuck in any other field, especially as an IMG, where you fulfill a need to attenuate a shortage and not do anything path breaking.Doing a PhD in a certain subject also matters and it matters where you do it from.A general rule of thumb is to look for PhD programs in Medical Schools across the US and then see which one is feasible to apply to in terms of international applicants being accepted, a general sense of what kind of research is going on. Remember, what you do for the next 5 years will determine the course of your career, so gain a flair for what you'd like to do and go ahead with that, you can always change your thesis topic, but at the end of the day, you only get those many options as the program offers. Your application to a residency is a whole lot believable when you apply with a PhD from let's say Baylor School of Medicine than it is from Texas A and M.2nd, the research you pursue and the subject you do it in really matters, big time.You could pursue a PhD in Clinical Anatomy and then apply for a residency in IM or you could pursue research in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology and then apply for IM, which one is more believable to a program director?Lastly, aim big and shoot big. The United States of America is truly an amazing place to pursue your dream, provided you know what it is. The expectation though is that you always need to be the best. The best way to explain it is like this… think that there is a mean and 68% of the population is around 1 standard deviation of that mean. You need to be anywhere above 1 standard deviation to 2 standard deviations above that mean. So if let's say the basic expectation from someone is this, shoot way above that basic expectation.Here's the thing that you need to be asking yourself.You're spending 5 years of your life to learn a skill? Does that skill make you any better than the 68% around the mean?Honestly no one cares about an extra three alphabets in your qualification unless it makes sense that A- you're of use to them and B- Your skill set makes you a bonus to the team of residents.A community hospital generally doesn't care about your PhD nearly enough because you aren't providing them with a skill set they need. They need community oriented money making physicians who can attract patients and incentivize their practice/hospital not thinkers with a PhD who need a lab, post doctoral researchers and funding from the NIH to bring about a result and so are only available to them 50% of the time.A university hospital, that too major Univeristy hospitals like Mt Sinai, Albert Einstein, Yale, UPenn, VCU, the University of Maryland Medical Center, so on and so forth will not choose you unless you've done something amazing in your PhD. You may have invested 5 years, but what have you got out of those 5 years? The expectation from American Medial students at these schools is hard enough without taking into consideration what is expected from an IMG.Think about it this way, how stellar do you need to be in terms of research when the person next to you is being awarded a big grant for her path breaking research in stem cell regeneration in Leukemia while you aren't even actively publishing papers as a 3rd of 4th author? Also the people that you’ll meet in the creme de la creme of a top ranked well funded medical school PhD or MD PhD program are highly motivated, superbly dedicated and superb achievers in their field. They didn't get that way because they were born that way. They're there because they had a dream and they stuck to it through great sacrifice and personal suffering. These are people that you'll be competing with, both in your PhD or while applying to residency at top institutions.Are you interested in matching into a residency anywhere or are you interested in pursuing some amazing clinical research opportunities at places like UPenn's Med School or the NIH while dividing the rest of the 50% of your time teaching students and seeing patients? The means need to justify the end. If you want to match into a residency in the US, in a small community hospital, usually away from major population centers amongst a similar bunch of international medical graduates, then spending 5 years of your life is a waste of time, it honestly is.If you want, do some clinical electives or observe ships under a physician, get good scores and match.But if you want to match in let's say Radiation oncology, Interventional radiology, Neurosurgery, IM Clinical Scientist Pathway, then pursuing a PhD from a good medical school with really good published articles and a track record where you're dedicated towards what you do, is what will get you there.The carry home message is- the means need to justify the end and not be just a stop gap for you.Edit: I would like to add that I just got accepted at the Icahn School of Medicine Mt.Sinai in New York and have gotten pre-accepted at Columbia and NYU Sackler. What I'd like to point out is as a medical graduate, I'm pursuing an MD PhD and have a dream of doing research in the field of stem cell research in Heme/Onc. I wanted to point out that choose very carefully what you'd like to do. If your goal is to pursue basic science research, do a PhD, if your goal is to pursue a clinical residency as a physician, pass your USMLEs and apply, do not look in the direction of a PhD. And lastly, if you want to be a physician scientist where you are seeing patients and working in a lab to find answers to their conditions, then do a PhD, mainly in a medical school, in a relevant field of biomedical research that you would like to apply to. There are plenty of residency positions for physician scientists and if you did your PhD under a good mentor, you won't be denied a residency.

Step 1: Earn a Bachelor's Degree (MBBS)As an aspiring psychiatrist, you'll need to take 12th courses in biology, chemistry, math and physics to meet medical collage admissions requirements. It's also recommended that you volunteer at a hospital.Step 2: Pursue a M. DYou'll need to attend the medical collage to earn your Doctor of Medicine (M.D.).As a medical student, you'll be introduced to basic anatomy, physiology and pathology through lecture and hands-on labs. Your classes will also cover pharmacology, psychology, ethics and medical laws. Typically, you'll learn the fundamental skills, behaviors and practices to become a physician before specializing your studies during your residency.Step 3: Complete a ResidencyAfter earning your medical degree, you'll participate in a residency in a clinic or hospital. Most psychiatric residency programs last four years and consist of a combination of didactic learning and practical application. You'll usually receive training in a number of disciplines, such as neurology, forensic psychology and chemical dependency before focusing your electives and clinical experience in a particular area during your final year. Under supervision, you may treat a variety of issues, including anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse, psychosis and developmental disabilities.Step 4: Obtain a LicenseYou must obtain a license through your state's medical board to practice psychiatry in all states. Most states have their own licensure requirements, but you'll usually need to pass an examination that tests your knowledge of state regulations and medical practices. You might also need to register with the state if you disperse medication to your patients.Step 5: Become Board CertifiedThough board certification through the is voluntary, becoming certified demonstrates your competence and could improve your employment opportunities. They offers certification in general psychiatry as well as specializations in such areas as addictions, adolescent and forensic psychiatry. Board certification is valid for ten years. To renew your credentials, you must maintain a good standing in the profession and an active practice in your specialty as well as participate in continuing education and self-assessment practices.

Here’s the answer I posted to a similar question:I can answer this one because it’s the situation I have with my son, who is now 25. He suffered a brain injury shortly after he was born and it became apparent pretty quickly that he was going to be seriously disabled, physically and cognitively. When he “aged out” of the public education system, at 22, we had a dilemma. There was no longer anything to occupy him with his days, and his dad and I were getting too old to continue providing daily care. We had researched it, so we knew there are facilities that provide care 24/7 and these are paid for by Medicaid, supplemented by Social Security. The parent must go to court to obtain legal guardianship for the adult child, then apply on the child’s behalf for Medicaid and Social security. There is no “spend-down” requirement for Medicaid in such a situation because parents are not required legally to support a child after age 18.The care facilities available to the developmentally disabled range from standard nursing homes to specialized care/living facilities. The terrible truth, however, is there are not enough vacancies in these settings to accommodate all the people needing residential care. In my home state, Illinois, I’m told there's something like 25,000 individuals waiting for an available vacancy in residential care settings. Their legal guardians must apply to these places, then go on a waiting list until a vacancy opens. Vacancies become available when a resident dies, or moves to another facility, for whatever reason. This means people are waiting months or (more likely) years for a placement. Misericordia, the most sought-after residential program in Illinois, I’ve heard, isn't even taking any more names because their wait-list is so long. Supposedly, people at the far end of the list may be waiting 20 years for a vacancy. The parents or legal guardians may die before their disabled dependent gets a home. In fact, it’s common, sadly. In such cases, the State steps in, assigns the dependent a public guardian and they move the person into any nursing home accepting Medicaid that has a bed open. I’ve heard of some people being placed in homes that are hundreds of miles from where they were, meaning any family or friends still living might never visit. These are really tragic situations.OTOH, people who are lucky get their adult child placed somewhere of their choosing while they are alive, giving them an opportunity to find higher-quality facilities for their loved ones and be present for their child’s transition into the care setting. This makes a huge difference.We were lucky. We knew someone who pulled some strings for us and we found a placement for our son not long after he completed his public education. Things started off pretty good, but their were some personnel changes and the quality of the facility suffered for it. We weren't satisfied with the care he was getting, so we put in applications to some other facilities and, just recently, we heard from one that offered us a vacancy. He’s been in placement about three years, so we were very lucky. We moved him in late October and it’s been going well. We’re pleased and he seems very happy. I wish everyone with a disabled loved one were as lucky.I wish the general public was more aware of the plight of disabled adults and their anxious families. I think if they did, more would be more sympathetic and less begrudging of taxpayers’ money that funds these services. I’ve heard some comments from people, criticizing the families of the disabled for putting the person on Public Aid and turning them over to strangers to care for them. Very few of these families have the resources necessary to pay for these services, and even the most devoted and loving parents can't provide the demanding challenge of day-to-day care indefinitely. Our bodies grow old and, ultimately, we all die. My husband and I are nearly 40 years older than our son. Despite his disability, he’s in excellent health and there's a good chance he will outlive us. We’re not foisting him on to public-funded caregivers because we're lazy or selfish. Not only can't we remain daily caregivers to him, but we want him to be comfortably situated and feeling secure in his life while we are still here. We won't have to be worried sick over what will happen to him after we die.The job of direct-care for the disabled is a hard one, and the pay to such heroes is appalling. In Illinois, the salary of direct-care-providers in 24/7 settings is a paltry $9.60 per hour! The facilities have no ability to pay their staff more, as this is what state legislators have budgeted for these jobs. Administrators don't have the dollars to increase their DCPs pay. These hard-working employees haven't had a pay increase since 2006, if you can imagine that. It's obscene. Bruce Rauner, our governor who happens to be a billionaire with no disabled family members, has vetoed all proposals for greater budgeting for these services, and, additionally, he wants legislators to approve his proposed budget that would cut funds to agencies like the one operating my son’s residence by a shocking 12%. We saw a statement issued by the administrators of the facility where our son was living previously, informing us this would slash over 800 million dollars from their operating budget. I probably don't need to tell you this would be catastrophic for these agencies and their clients. Legislators have been deadlocked well over a year in a stalemate over Illinois’ state budget. The stalemate has wreaked havoc on a wide scale with public-funded services, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. I lie awake in bed some nights worrying over all this, wondering how it will turn out and if some miracle will come along to rescue this miserable situation.Now there's a new presidential administration coming to the U.S., and louder and louder rumblings are being heard of eliminating Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare from many public servants supporting the president-elect. You can probably guess I’m scared to death over what will happen.This is no doubt way more than you asked or wanted to know, but I thank you for asking the question, giving me the opportunity to bring to light in a public forum the hardships families like mine must endure. The public needs to know about this.