Get it in writing, ALWAYS!!!!

You'd think that by now, this isn't something someone my age doesn't already know. Which is why when I mentioned the "deal" my old company put on the table verbally regarding my position with the company, I added the following caveat in my 10/15/2013 post: "Assuming all this pans out of course, there's always a risk that things won't happen the way the company prez says, and if that's the case, I'll happily increase my client load and take the next graduate assistantship that comes in my school inbox.". Well in the world of business, NOTHING is what it seems until it's put on paper.

At the end of the day, NOTHING was put in writing which essentially meant that talk was cheap and NOT cash-able at ANY bank I can think of, LOL!! And that's why I pretty much take EVERYTHING I hear with a grain of salt especially when I realize I work with folks who would (and DID), work for free so that they could keep their work place visa which allows them in the US in the first place. And let me be clear, this is VERY common in the Scientist "industry" which is why wages are slow to grow and haven't increased much in almost 10 years. Yeah, Mr. Facebook, this is just what the average US trained Scientist needs, is a glut of competition from folks who'll work for free or for wages equivalent to what I made washing glassware back in the day. Yeah.

But because I know EVERYTHING happens for a reason, I immediately started looking for the silver lining in all this, and it didn't take long for me to find it. I now have to decide if I want to work on a PhD full-time with a FULL Scholarship/Fellowship beginning in the Fall of 2014 OR do I stick with plan "A", and shoot for med school in the Fall of 2015. Thing is, I realize that if I had jumped on that PhD bandwagon years ago, I'd be DONE by now and since the desire to earn an MD is NEVER going to go away, I'd be a much better employment situation in the location of MY choosing. And I have to qualify that because I get weekly inquiries about jobs in the US, so I remain thankful.

However while there are programs in place that will allow me to transfer to the combined MD/PhD program, there's the VERY strong possibility my age is going to be an issue for an Adcom. And yeah, I'm going there DIRECTLY because there's just NO other obstacle I see, given my record. Sure that probably sounds arrogant, but it's a fact. Just like it's a fact that there isn't enough research being done which is significantly beneficial to people of African descent, with our genetically heterogeneous selves. And turning down ANYONE qualified and committed to such a goal is just stupid IMHO. And medically reckless.

So with this in mind, my Spring schedule is STILL under evaluation as is the program I ultimately want to get my PhD in. Today, it seems to make MUCH more sense for me to go for a program I can transfer credits into and which I already have strong mastery of. And for the record, that ain't Computational Biology. It IS Cancer Biology and Pathology, so with a nearby program that integrates both areas within reach, I'm strongly considering that. And I'd use methods germane to Computational Biology of course, in light of the current employment outlook for PhD's. I mean, I find the program I'm currently in, Health Informatics, VERY interesting, but my heart just isn't in it.

So, this brings about a new term for where I seem to be going, Computational Cancer Biology or Cancer Informatics, both of which are a mouthful, LOL!!!