Is it a poor decision to go into graduate study doing research on something that affects you personally?

Question

Or is it effects.
In this case, it is medical.

Answer 1

From my experience the litmus test to rate a decision takes place AFTER you made the decision and see the outcome.

Poor is also a relative and subject term. But semantics aside, it seems the real challenge for doing graduate study and research on a topic affecting you personally is the challenge of maintaining scientific objectivity and integrity.

Norman Bethune was dying of tuberculosis when he "invented" a surgical procedure to cure this disease (and inventing many of the tools necessary to perform thoracic surgery) and had this operation done on himself to prove it would work. He risked his life not so much in selfishly seeking to save himself as much as seeking to have is risking his life (which others had written off) in search of a cure for a deadly disease that afflicted mostly the poor (who were the vast majority of his patients). When he first proposed the procedure, the medical staff at the sanitarium refused to perform the operation as it was unknown, unproven, and perceived as risky and life threatening.

On the other hand, you are also putting yourself into a position that could give you personal advantages and gains over other patients with a similar afflictions. In that case, if there was one dose of the cure left, and many patients (including yourself to treat) could you stay the course and administer the dose to those more needy that you, not abuse your position by stepping aside and excluding yourself from the decision making process? Hard to answer this type of hypothetical, but that is one possible danger in getting yourself into that kind of position.

It is hard to know how well you can separate your professional from personal feelings and thinking. Only you can answer that question....and answering it today may give you one result...and answering it in the future may give you a different result. You will need to periodically answer this question over and over....with the hardest part being totally honest with yourself and being fair to others.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Answer 2

Generally, you don't go into graduate study already knowing what you are going to research, but I would say that many people have an initial interest in an area because it affects either them or someone close to them personally. I don't know if you have seen the recent commercials starring Dr. Jarvik, who pioneered heart transplants, who says that he was planning to go into architecture until his father developed heart problems. Just be careful that you are open to learning what they have to teach you, rather than focusing on your own needs. When I was in grad school, there had been a previous student who was legendary because every paper he wrote had something to do with breastfeeding, regardless of what the paper was supposed to cover. I can guarantee you that he was not as well-respected as someone who was curious about a variety of possible topics.

Answer 3

It's not a bad decision at all.