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Comment by MayeulC | Hacker News Reader

Congratulations, reaching that stage is very impressive and could be life-changing to a lot of people.

> CEO Dr. José M. Mejía Oneto, who has a PhD in organic chemistry and trained as a medical doctor

As an electronics PhD student with a growing interest in medical applications of my skills, how does one go about training as a medical doctor? Are there shortcuts one can take if not intending to practice? Though at this point, it seems to me that recognition/credentials is a bit orthogonal to building up knowledge.

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If you are interested in medical devices, at least in the US there are hospital-based postdoc positions which will hire some engineering PhDs even w/out specifically medical thesis focus (as you are coming from ferroelectrics: potentially MRI or robotics research). In such a position there is a lot of opportunity to attend medical lectures, and also ideally to shadow MDs in clinic, observe procedures, and sit in on case reviews.

There are also various 1-2 year MS degree programs, often called "MS in biomedical sciences", which can function as a bridge into medical careers. Some are designed to prepare for MD or other professional school, while others have a focus on broader background (variety of subjects like anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology).

That is an interesting question. Thank you for sharing. Indeed, I was a chemistry PhD before going to medical school. Unfortunately, there are no easy shortcuts that I know of. Interestingly it is a bit unpredictable if somebody will practice medicine or not when they go to do an MD or MD/PhD.

Thank you for your answer. After nine-ish years of higher education, I'm not sure I want to double down on that. Not right away, at least.

Another option is to learn on the side, and ask actual doctors to confirm/infirm theories and assess feasibility, but without credentials, it's easy to get dismissed...

As far as I understand, that means they went to medical school.

A quick google search shows that Dr. José M. Mejía Oneto went to the University of Minnesota and did their residency at UC Davis. All this was done after their PhD in Chemistry from Emory.

I don't know if there's any other way to get medical training that will give you any level of authority or respect other than medical school (or related profession like PA or Nurse)

Maybe Dr Oneto can clarify but it does not appear he completed his surgery residency. This is not super material with respect to what he is doing now, but I believe this is why such unusual phrasing is used in the article. It is likely Dr Oneto still passed his medicine boards and is a licensed MD, he just is limited to taking care of post surgical patients (moonlighting) and is not able to perform surgeries in California.

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