Hello!
This is my first post here. I am a first-year medical student from Pakistan. I started med school 5 months ago and the more classes I have been taking, the more I am realizing that I am not into clinical medicine. I am more interested in fields that require critical thinking in the way mathematics and Physics in A-Levels did. Here we start med school right after High School/ A Levels and graduate with an MBBS degree (Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery so it's like a dual Bachelor's degree). I recently discovered Bioinformatics and it really clicks! I think I would like to go for an MS in Bioinformatics after completing med school. Is it a good idea to do MS Bioinformatics after MBBS? I am already taking the CS50 course on programming by HarvardX on edX and it is interesting! Is there anything else I should do during the 5 years of MBBS to bridge the gap between someone with an MBBS background and someone with, say, a Computer Science/Mathematics background?
What can I do after completing an MS in Bioinformatics?
I personally had no math/stat/CS background when I started with bioinformatics during my Molecular Biology master. Yes, do these courses, see if it really catches you. Most people here in this community are entirely self-taught. It is definitely possible but a lot of work. Do it in parallel with your medical degree as this will teach you the medical and biological concepts. If at the end of medical school you are still fascinated by bioinformatics then maybe some internships, summer school or even a PhD position would be an option. It is on you. In my experience the outcome is a direct function of the effort you invest. There is so much online material out there, you just have to do it.