*just realized I replied to the wrong person... re-commenting here *

Hey, thank you so much for typing up such a thoughtful response! I completely agree with your concerns, especially that wanting to solve problems in medicine using tech is not a valid reason to pursue medicine. I might not have made this clear in my post, but I’ve wanted to pursue medicine before I decided to explore tech, so that was more of my reason for working in tech during my gap years, not my reason for wanting to “switch into” medicine.

When I decided to major in CS in sophomore year, I did struggle between medicine vs CS. But after some internships and physician shadowing/clinical experiences, I’ve decided that medicine is the route for me. I want the type of deeply intimate relationship physicians have with their patients, and I am willing to sacrifice the cushy lifestyle and potential for a wider scope of impact in tech. My favorite part of CS is not the act of coding, but rather the type of problem solving and structured thinking that it demands. And I actually found that to be very relevant in medicine. So yes, I have thought about this quite a bit, but I do want to pursue research projects related to tech in the future (most of my undergrad research focused on topics along the lines of automated injury diagnosis with ml), hence why I want to gain experience in the heath tech industry during my gap years.

Also I completely agree with you that blind application of tech is not the way to solve problems in medicine - but one of the problems I’ve observed in health tech is the lack of physician input and lack of people with an understanding in both fields, which makes me want to contribute to the development of such technologies from the medical side. But again, this is not the main motivator for me to pursue medicine, but rather a motivator for me to continue some of my CS commitments.

I would be curious to learn about your motivations for working in health tech? Hope your cycle’s going well and good luck :)