Upfront, I did not kill anyone and I am still fully licensed to practice medicine in Germany. There we have it the first why: To work as a physician in the United States one need to subject him/herself to the same exams as american medical students. In fact there is even more scrutiny as you will see. I passed United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 in November 1999 and Step 2 in March 1999. Yes, I took Step 2 first since this was already 3 years after I finished my German medical state exam and I was in the middle of clinical topics.
After coming to the United States on April fools day 2000 I was contemplating whether I would continue and finish USMLE. In order to take USMLE Step 3 one must be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). ECFMG Certification is required to obtain an unrestricted license to practice medicine. Next logical step would have been to take the ECFMG Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) now called USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills Exam, which was only available in Philadelphia and cost more that $1000 at the time.
Well, I was on very tight budget in 2000 (28k/year) thus this was out of the question. In addition I was busy with my postdoc carrier in the Howell lab. My head was dealing with cisplatin drug resistance, microarrays and molecular biology. I had hundreds of papers to read, new things to learn and anything connected to my clinical carrier was left behind in Germany.
Another factor was, that since I got my first PC in 1990 I had been spending way to many nights configuring windows and linux. I actually worked in a local computer store to finance my cravings for the newest and best components as certified by computer journals such as CHIP and PC Welt. Adding it all up I must have spent more time tinkering with computer hard- and software then with medical studies (and believe me I was quite a striver there).
So it came to no surprise when I was the computer guy in the molecular biology lab and I did not mind. Due to the institutional managed computer system (oh boy, that was quite an adjustment) I finally discovered that computers are actually productivity tools and not just toys. Very soon after becoming involved with microarray technology I found myself maxing out Excel and Access and bringing the poor pentiums to a grinding halt.
I realized that I needed to use better tools to cope with the enormous amount of data. After consulting with SDSC's Lynn F. TenEyck, Brian Banister and Joshua Polterock it was clear that I needed to learn programming and databases. Coincidentally ISMB 2000 was hosted by SDSC and I was finally hooked on bioinformatics.
Lynn F. TenEyck offered me a position at SDSC starting April 2001 and I accepted. I have never really looked back since ... (only in some dark hours) and now my USMLE Step 1 and 2 are expired.
In addition, my current job gives me a flexibility in scheduling my work that is impossible for any physician (in Trauma and OB/GYN at least). So, when I am still putting in way more then 5 days and 8 hours a week then this is merely the result of my passion for the task at hand.
Nevertheless, I have not excluded the possibility to work as medical doctor, of course that would be in Germany, where I am still fully licensed.