10/29/2024    Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD

No DPMs Need Apply

I recently received a notice on Linkedin from a
young lady who gave up a lucrative career with a
pharmaceutical company to attend medical school in
Curacao. The notice simply stated there was a
change in her status. I remember asking her in the
interview why she wanted to give up her position to
pursue an MD degree from the Caribbean. She said
there was a glass ceiling for folks in the medical
business industry who were not doing the bench
research and did not possess an MD degree.

I followed up the other day on Linkedin and saw she
is presently teaching at Columbia University in New
York City. When I talked with her, she told me she
got a great offer to teach, not in Columbia’s
College of Physicians and Surgeons but in the
business sector at least partly because of her MD
degree, so she took it. She mentioned there was
even a ‘go to’ site for MDs who did not want to
practice medicine, and this website even advertised
jobs. I was curious about what she said, and I
found places like Linkedin, and similar locations
on the web that were rampant offering positions in
management, directorships, writing, statistical
analysis, etc. Most of the positions were work from
home (remote) careers for both part time and full-
time opportunities.

All the appointments came with at least a $125,000
to over a $200,000 salary. Most of the companies
advertised the applicant needed an MD or DO degree,
occasionally a PhD degree would be entertained.
After all, once you are awarded an MD degree, you
are instantly a polymath and acceptable to big
business. Not one of the 30 or so jobs I looked at
said they would consider a DPM degree. Only MD or
DO degrees. So, there it is, these research,
pharmaceutical, CME or advertising companies do not
acknowledge our DPM degrees as equivalent to those
degrees that allow one to sit for the USMLE. These
were not just pharmaceutical companies, but at
least half appeared to be companies that worked in
conjunction with other companies, so they might be
outsourcing entities.

I did not recognize one company name in all the
firms and jobs I looked at. I saw no Pfizer, GSK,
Zimmer or Stryker advertising for positions open to
DPMs even though we use their products. In case I
have not been clear, not one of the companies
acknowledged a DPM degree as an acceptable
alternative terminal degree for their wants and
needs. Again, we are on the outside looking in.
There appears to be a glass ceiling for people with
a DPM degree. In the eyes of the business world, I
guess we are not equal in knowledge or skills. Big
business may not even know we as a profession exist
because some executive at a company named Chestnut
Consulting never had the need to see a podiatrist.
The family physician wrote that prescription to
cover the bromhidrosis epidemic.

We can speculate why these companies do not offer
occupations to DPMs. The kindest reason would be
that whoever runs the company cuts their own
toenails, or is satisfied with Dr. Scholl’s OTC
foot powder, or is convinced the Good Feet Store
really does custom fit those size 11 orthotics as
step one in their multi-level sales plan. They have
never had the need to ask about some allied health
care provider called a podiatrist. At the other end
of the pendulum arc of, no DPMs need apply,
business really could think that DPMs don’t carry a
degree equal to MDs or DOs because they once heard
an MD say something derogatory about a podiatrist.
So, whose fault are these errors involving what we
do or even that we exist? If podiatry screams, “We
are.” in the forest but no one is there to hear it,
does podiatry exist?

Wouldn’t it be nice if all those companies that
sport the APMA seal of approval on their products
offered real careers to DPMs who decide that a
patient care practice is not for them? The APMA
approved companies pay APMA a fee for the logo.
When lay people see the “podiatry guys” have
approved a certain product, they choose that item
over the other toenail fungus remedies sitting on
the shelf at CVS that are not approved by APMA.
After all, taking a non-approved anti-fungal
toenail remedy home might break up a family. Lay
people buy the product with the seal of the APMA
and spend 100 times more than what the product
owners paid for the privilege of printing the APMA
logo on their anti-fungal. Does anyone think that
as a requirement for getting the APMA seal of
approval, companies must practice diversity,
equity, and inclusion toward the DPM degree and
those of us who have earned it?

As of right now, we can’t even get a foot in the
door (no pun intended, but serious) to prove in an
interview that we are not mouth breathers. If given
the opportunity, we could even tell the search
committees and those folks actively recruiting that
society has recently allowed us the privilege of
using sharp instruments on patients. Taking and
interpreting x-rays seem to be on the horizon for
us, or so say our advocate groups.

Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD, Columbus, OH

Other messages in this thread:

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10/30/2024    Paul Kesselman, DPM

No DPMs Need Apply (Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD)

I have to partially disagree with Dr. Tomczak.
There is no question that the MD degree may get
doors open that another doctorate degree may not.
I also know at least 2 MDs who either decided not
to pursue residency programs or who quit their
surgical residency in midstream to pursue
other areas of interest, such as medical IT, etc.
This area is growing by the day as physicians with
clinical experience and those in medical school
see how difficult clinical practice is.

However I know many DPMs who, for one reason or
another, pursued work outside the clinical arena in
the pharmaceutical industry, orthopedic equipment
or orthotics and prosthetics industries, and some
even the teaching profession, at one level or
another. Other DPMs are working for insurance
companies as investigators, others as compliance
officers either for health systems of third-party
payers.

All without exception have done financially quite
well for themselves, and I dare say, many have made
more money in those industries than if they stuck
it out as clinical podiatrists.

So while I would have to agree that the MD degree
may initially get your foot in the door, there are
many podiatrists who have gone on to succeed and
done quite well for themselves in non-clinical
roles in other fields.

There is no doubt a need for DPMs to have access to
take the USMLE exam (as has been previously noted).
That may get you the MD degree, but if you want to
have the MD license to practice, that is another
matter. Dr. Tomczak likely will agree that you will
still need to do a minimum of a one year MD
residency just to obtain that license (which really
won't get you too far in the clinical world).

It certainly is unfortunate if companies are that
myopic and do not bother to look to see what
practical experience the person applying has,
concentrating about the applicant's degree.
As a son of a Fortunate 500 HR executive, I can
tell you that your degree only gets you so far.
Your expertise and personality will take you much
further.

Yes getting your first job in any realm is
difficult and the right degree may get you in the
door for an interview, but there are far more
important factors, such as your ability to
communicate and work with others that will not only
get you that job, but will also enable you to climb
the ladder. You can and you should write your own
pedigree.

Paul Kesselman, DPM, Oceanside, NY