Beyond Medicine: Exploring Non-Traditional Career Paths For Medical Students
I hosted a lecture to the Medical Entrepreneurship Club at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine on Non-Traditional Career Paths for Medical Students. This was a high-level introduction to the many ways you can expand your impact outside of clinical medicine.
If you're a med student whether you're just curious or actively looking for opportunities beyond the hospital, this is meant to be a starting point!
I also compiled tons of resources to explore, covering everything from consulting and investing to entrepreneurship and more. While some of the in-person communities are focused on NYC and Downstate, the links are valuable for anyone at the beginning of their journey.
There’s so much to get too. Let’s dive in.
Our Goal:
To ensure that students who are interested in the intersection of medicine and business have a platform to learn, pursue their ideas and passions, and build connections in the field
No gatekeeping. When we improve health outcomes and affordability, we all win. There is space for everyone in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Non-Traditional Career Paths*
Consulting
Investing and Venture
Startups, Inventing, and Entrepreneurship
Research
Writing and Journalism
Education and Leadership
Health Policy
*This is a non-exhaustive list. This article focuses on the bolded points.
Why Explore Alternative Career Paths?
Diversifying skills
Flexibility and personal growth
Creating impact beyond patient care
Opportunities to innovate and lead in various fields
Why not?
Opportunity cost of time and money
Does not speed up the academic process to board-certification
Riskier career path / job insecurity
General Resources
Join Communities:
Learn:
Books:
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman
Where Does it Hurt? by Jonathan Bush and Stephen L. Baker
Skills You Can Leverage from Medicine to Business
Expertise in medical knowledge, clinical skills, patient care, clinical pathways
Understanding of patient/provider/payer experiences
Experience working in urban medical settings at level-1 trauma center attached to academic institution
Customer facing work directly with diverse patient populations of all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status
Knowledge of Electronic Medical Records, scheduling, and billing systems
End-user of medical equipment and various devices related to outpatient and inpatient settings
Medical research writing, basic science research, manuscript writing, IRB writing, translational research
Biology, chemistry, physics, biomedical sciences, microbiology, MSK, emergency, pharmacology, and general medicine knowledge etc.
Experience as a student, exam-taker, life-long learner
Consulting
What is Consulting?
Working with companies to improve their strategy, operations, implementations, finance structures, devices, marketing and outreach efforts etc.
Can be startups, medical device companies, medical groups, single site hospital institutions, large medical networks, or payers
Can be smaller scale problem solving or large scale enterprise organization
Skills Developed:
Problem-solving, communication, strategic thinking
Making powerpoints/decks to convey stories, pitch business models, evaluate market trends, or company snapshots
Creating documents about programs, potential growth strategies, evaluating devices or research trends, distilling complex science or medical jargon to non-clinicians
Excel modeling of fees for potential programs
Program development
Leading meetings
Understanding business models
Opportunities:
Internships, fellowships, networking events
Consulting Resources:
Companies: Some have specific programs / some have rolling open roles. There are many more than this list.
Books:
The McKinsey Mind by Ethan Rasiel and Paul N. Friga
Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
Value Proposition Design by Alan Smith, Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda
Investing
What is Healthcare Investing?
Healthcare investing involves supporting companies in life sciences, medtech, and digital health by providing capital and strategic guidance.
This field can include venture capital (VC), private equity (PE), or angel investing, where you fund early-stage startups or growth-stage companies in exchange for equity.
Skills Developed:
Financial acumen, understanding company valuation, revenue models, and market opportunities.
Strategic thinking, analyzing healthcare trends and identifying gaps where startups can create disruptive solutions.
Network building, forming relationships with entrepreneurs, fellow investors, and industry leaders.
Using medical knowledge to assess product viability and the impact on patient outcomes
Opportunities:
Fellowships, internships, angel networks
Joining venture firms, or corporate innovation teams as a junior level intern / associate / analyst
Leaders:
Dr. Tom X. Lee – One Medical & Galileo Health
Dr. Robert Mittendorff – General Partner B Capital
Dr. Eric Topol – Digital Health Thought Leader
Venture Capital Resources
Companies: *This is a non-exhaustive list. There are so many.
Youtube:
HBS VC Pathways Is VC for Me?
Articles To Read:
Startups, Inventing, & Entrepreneurship
What is Medical Innovation?
Innovation in healthcare can take the form of developing new medical devices, digital health solutions, biotech advancements, or patient care models.
Physicians are well-positioned to identify gaps in care and create solutions due to their firsthand experience with clinical challenges and patient needs.
Entrepreneurship in healthcare often involves founding or co-founding startups, or collaborating with engineers, designers, and business professionals to bring an idea to market.
Skills Developed:
Design Thinking: Leveraging human-centered design to develop products that address real-world healthcare needs, whether it's improving efficiency, accuracy, or patient outcomes.
Product Development: Learning to build, prototype, and test medical devices, software, or new treatment methods.
Leadership: Managing teams, pitching to investors, and guiding a company from concept to commercialization.
Risk-Taking & Problem Solving: Innovators must navigate regulatory environments, market competition, and the practical challenges of scaling a solution.
Startup Resources
Identify healthcare gaps, team up with engineers or developers, look for operator, product management, team lead, clinical ops roles
Look at Market Maps-> then make your own
Books:
Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
Value Proposition Design by Alan Smith, Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda
Health Design Thinking by Dr. Bon Ku and Ellen Lupton
Downstate Residency Grads turned Founders:
Dr. Yair Saperstein- Avo
Dr. Sophia Kogan- Nutrafol
Dr. Shama Rathi- LunaJoy Health
Research
Medical students can leverage their clinical expertise to engage in impactful research, whether it's clinical trials, health policy research, or translational studies in biotech and pharma.
Skills Developed:
Critical thinking, data analysis, and understanding of research methodologies.
Problem-solving, especially related to real-world healthcare challenges.
Career Pathways:
Roles in pharmaceutical or biotech companies, research institutes, or health policy think tanks.
Leaders:
Dr. Atul Gawande – A surgeon, author, and public health researcher who founded Ariadne Labs, focusing on system improvements in healthcare delivery.
Resources:
Writing and Journalism
Medical writing and journalism allows medical students to share complex medical knowledge with diverse audiences, ranging from healthcare professionals to the general public.
This could involve writing for academic journals, health blogs, or even narrative storytelling to make medicine more accessible.
Skills Developed:
Clear communication, audience-specific writing, and translation of complex topics into accessible language.
Career Pathways:
Medical writers for journals or pharmaceutical companies, health bloggers, or editors at medical publications.
Leaders:
Dr. Sanjay Gupta – A neurosurgeon and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, known for translating complex medical information for the public.
Resources:
How to Begin
Evaluate where you are and what you are good at
Join /clean up your Linkedin
Update resume
Write down topics you want to learn more about
Join newsletters and in-person communities on these specific things
Learn what opportunities exist -> market trends and open jobs
Find companies in your niche
Look at their sites -> Careers / Jobs page (sometimes all the way at the bottom footer of the website)
Look at their company Linkedin -> People and Jobs tabs.
Who is in your network? Identify people in your niche
Connect with them online and/or message them with thoughtful questions or an invitation to talk
Build a personal list of your network on Google drive, Excel, Notion, ICloud - whatever platform works for you
Record their name, role, how you met them, if you had a conversation with them write few bullets about what stood out to you
Thank you! For any questions, edits, or specific feedback on this article. You can email shreya.jain@downstate.edu