the doctor of the future

This may be the first generation when biologic advances are so rapid that drugs and tests will go straight from the labs to the bedside, skipping medical schools. Consider this cartoon:​

A good example of the acceleration of medical innovation are the TKI's used in adenocarcinoma of the lung (see more on lung pathology here).

We have 160,000 deaths/year from lung cancer in the US, and students are going to get to the hospitals with no understanding of this revolutionary treatment. When we were students in the 1970's, the life expectancy of advanced lung cancer was 4 months. When we finished active practice in 2012, it was 11 months. Now, over 65% of EGFR-mutated adenocarcinomas will live 2 years and 15% will live 5 years.

​So keep learning those principles. You will need them over your years of practice.