Wait, these are a thing?????
Yes. Yes they are. They're currently growing in popularity too. When I first heard of these type of programs the first thing I thought was "how do you live?". I mean, to get an M.D. is pretty darn impressive and requires a lot of sleep loss and dedication, not to mention major sacrifice. How does someone survive graduating with both an M.D. and a Ph.D in half the time????
Well, apparently there's a growing demand for clinical scientists. That is, people who have an understanding of the medical field, and do research related to better treatments for diseases such as AIDS, cancer, and artificial matter too (artificial hearts, skin, limbs, etc).
It's a win-win for the medical schools too, because in order to get a Ph.D you have to submit a thesis of some sort for a gigantic research project that you've been conducting. So doing this, medical schools have access to the best minds to solve our greatest problems, during their time in medical school. It also provides the student access to more opportunities other than just being a doctor. For example, say you're VERY interested in the medical field, but you hate working with people. Either you do biomedical engineering, or you get an M.D./Ph.D and get the best of both worlds.
So the way this would work for you, the student, is that you would take all the same classes as an M.D. candidate, plus a few others related to your Ph.D (i.e. neuroscience, cardiology, psychology). You would perform research in the labs provided (which are actually pretty neat at medical schools), and submit a thesis on whatever your heart desires to know, and get yourself published. Then, after four years of no sleep and no social interaction, you've got yourself an M.D./Ph.D!
I'd say most medical schools have jumped on this bandwagon by now, so if you're interested in that kind of thing, I'd suggest taking a look at what programs they have to offer and see if there's any specialties you'd be interested in!
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