FAQ

I frequently receive emails from potential M.D.-Ph.D. students seeking advice on career decisions. Below is a summary of the common questions about pursuing research in machine learning for healthcare and insights into my career path. I hope you find this helpful, and please feel free to email me hyewonjeong.contact@gmail.com if you have further questions (I might not be able to respond quickly but will try hard to respond quickly).

• This page is under construction! 

1. Motivation to apply for Ph.D. and Academic Journey/Careerpath

   1. Can you share your journey / Careerpath and why you chose to do Ph.D. in Computer Science?

2. The extent to which having an MD is beneficial for healthcare research:

   1. How has your prior experience in medicine/biology helped you with your research in ML for Health? 

   2. How significant is having an MD background in the field of healthcare AI research? Given that many studies involve collaboration between clinicians and engineers, do you believe that obtaining an MD/PhD offers added value beyond these collaborative efforts?

Answer: While having an MD can certainly help in understanding the domain, students without an MD can also conduct research effectively. They can collaborate with healthcare professionals and gain a solid understanding of the research problems, making an MD not necessarily essential.

I have received a lot of questions asking "Is M.D. Ph.D. worth it?". Well, I didn't think about it being worth it or not, I just wanted to do research and that was one of the few paths I could choose, and I liked the path. People say given the time it might not be worth it for some people and it will never be worth it. 

3. Do you recommend applying to Ph.D. programs although I don't have prior research experience or publications in the field?

Answer: As I am not a professor directly involved in selecting PhD students, it's difficult for me to provide a definitive answer. However, having research experience is likely to be important.