You need to have a real passion for research and accept the trade off of lower pay if you work at the NIH. Not to mention that you have to be actually good enough to get hired there in the first place. It is not for dilettantes.
If you want a well-compensated career as an MD and also to pursue research then look at teaching hospitals. I worked for many years in a research lab at a place like this. My PI was an attending with a regular MD salary and she also had the lab with independent funding support and dedicated research time. 3 out of her 4 children have also become MDs, and the fourth went into the medical device field.

The responses so far are interesting. I've seen this question posed to lots of different professions lately (academics, lawyers, teachers, etc.). and the responses rarely say it's a funny question and the responses are almost universally, "Hell, no!" As in, it seems like no one recommends their own profession these days. It's quite sad.

The answers on this thread are quite different. Maybe that's a good thing-- people's gut reactions aren't "hell, no!" So that's something!

Anonymous wrote:My husband is an MD/PhD who does biomedical research. He once worked at NIH. Obviously nothing has ever paid him enough to compensate for the years of study, but that isn't the point. The people going into scientific research with MDs, or PhDs, or both, are doing labors of love. Their work is a source of great inner satisfaction.

My husband once tried to work in private biotech (which paid him double the salary he was getting at NIH), and realized he was being asked to cut corners and lie to clients to squeeze them for as much money as possible. He left and returned to academic research.

Me again. Only someone who has an inner drive to do this work will end up in one of those jobs, OP. The barriers to entry for an American are high because of the cost of college and grad school - the financials end up working against them.

This is why until this year, there was a STEM brain drain from others parts of the world to the US: all the research scientists from other countries wanted to work in the US, because the funding here is (used to be?) great. Americans look at the bottom line and most don't want those jobs. In some other countries, universities are more affordable, so you're not paying an arm and a leg to get a medical degree, researchers are respected, and you can get by on a small salary in your home country. All you need is a high IQ, not a ton of family money. But if you can make it to the US, and get paid more to do the same work, then even better! And since academic research is published for all to use and benefit from, the entire world benefits from your research, wherever it's been done. Win-Win-Win.

A ton of research scientists in the US are foreign born, either on visas or green cards. Some of them get their citizenship eventually, and have US citizen kids. We are one of these families.

Now of course, all of this is coming to a screeching halt with the double whammy of funding freezes and threats to legal immigration. US Customs and Border Control have detained so many people in legal situations that many countries in Europe and elsewhere have issued travel advisories for the US.

My husband is an MD/PhD who does biomedical research. He once worked at NIH. Obviously nothing has ever paid him enough to compensate for the years of study, but that isn't the point. The people going into scientific research with MDs, or PhDs, or both, are doing labors of love. Their work is a source of great inner satisfaction.

My husband once tried to work in private biotech (which paid him double the salary he was getting at NIH), and realized he was being asked to cut corners and lie to clients to squeeze them for as much money as possible. He left and returned to academic research.

very weird question as others have mentioned. There are way too many variables to even begin to discuss whatever pros and cons you think there may be. Did your kid get into medical school? Then they should be able to decide on their own what they want to do and where they want to work. Colleagues in the field are a much more valuable resource than anonymous people on a random job board.

I used to work at Children’s in DC. It is a teaching hospital affiliated with GWU. The attendings can have a research lab if they can find funding support, and they get paid regular MD salaries based on their specialty. I have also worked at NIH and the MDs who do clinical research there are amazing but they sacrifice a lot in pay.

It is a strange question. Medicine in general is a sacrifice. I’d let your child decide if they want to pursue it. I don’t recommend it nor discourage it. Some people love academic medicine and some people can’t stand it. You kid will figure it out through the process. First needs to do premed, MCAT, get into med school, etc

Well these are the people who are actually making medical breakthroughs and finding new cures and treatments. So it depends on what is important to the individual. Pay v prestige, etc.

No. Academic medicine gets the low pay pf academics and none of the sabbatical. All the pressures of clinical practice with less compensation. NIH can be a fun gig if you are among the anointed ones, but even those I have heard have been leaving for greener pastures and less political swaying.

Strange question. Let your kid get into medical school and then they will be able to figure it out for themselves. Some doctors want to also do research while others prefer to focus primarily on direct patient care.

When you say academic medical center, do you mean teaching hospital? Because all of the best hospitals are teaching hospitals. Working in a teaching hospital doesn’t necessarily equal doing research like at NIH or something.

At any rate, you wouldn’t “recommend this as a job to your child.” If they go to medical school, they will be figuring all of this out for themselves. And a lot of it will depend upon what kind of residency they can get, which will be based primarily on their Step Scores, and medical school.

If you work at academic medical centers or places like NIH as a physician, would you recommend this job to your child?
What are pros and cons?