Best states for a family physician

Expert opinions on the best states for family physicians

• Are there any particularly good places in the United States for family physicians to find work opportunities?

  Julie Aultman Ph.D.

  Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University

  We need this future workforce to be innovative, to make important changes - from environmental and global warming initiatives (bioethicists who have a passion for environmental ethics) to being researchers and advocates for patients and others who might fall victim to the negative impact of the pandemic (clinical ethics, health humanities scholars). The transition to work will be slow, as the revitalization of our national economy, but there will be work.
  
  We need these future minds more than anything right now. But again, mentors are going to be essential for helping these graduates get to that next phase in their lives. I am fully confident my dual-enrolled students (medical or pharmacy students who are also taking the Masters program in Medical Ethics and Humanities) will find work opportunities. For my traditional graduate students who are not in the health professions, there will be roles for these students in medicine and science (e.g., regulatory compliance).
  
  However, I do encourage them to work toward a doctoral program as the MA degree is a non-terminal degree. I have had students receive work prior to the pandemic, and I would suspect similar opportunities post-pandemic, particularly in the sciences where ethics and compliance are so essential.