There are dozens of different medical specialties and even more subspecialties you can pursue. In this guide, we explain them all.
We'll start with the core seven that are most common for medical school rotations.
Family Medicine
First up is family medicine. are the center of primary care. They treat the broadest range of ailments and patients, from newborns to seniors and everything in between. They are not limited to a single organ, disease, or age range. Family medicine is consistently the least competitive medical specialty to pursue and has one of the lowest salaries at just over $250,000.
Internal Medicine
Next, are the generalists of generalists, treating a massive range of medical conditions, whether common or rare, complex or straightforward, acute or chronic. The biggest difference between internal and family medicine is IM doctors only treat adults. Internal medicine is also loaded with subspecialty and fellowship options, which we'll get to later.
Pediatrics
Next, we have . Think of this specialty as the equivalent of internal medicine but for younger patients. Pediatricians care for babies, children, and adolescents from birth up to the age of 25. Pediatrics is another one of the least competitive specialties, in part due to its lower average compensation at $250,000 a year.
Ob/gyn
covers both obstetrics and gynecology. Obstetrics is the medical and surgical management of pregnancy, whereas gynecology is the medical and surgical management of the female reproductive tract. Ob/gyn doctors see patients through puberty, adult life, pregnancy, menopause, and beyond.
Surgery
Surgery is a very broad medical specialty. Surgeons use manual techniques and medical instruments to physically reach into a patient's body to investigate or treat an illness or injury. The core specialty is general surgery, but there's a wide spectrum of surgical subspecialties, some of which we'll cover shortly.
Neurology
specialize in the non-surgical management of a variety of central and peripheral nervous system disorders, managing everything from headaches and migraines to devastating and incurable diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Huntington's disease. Many diseases in neurology are chronic and progressive, but research and new therapies are rapidly evolving.
Psychiatry
Psychiatry focuses on understanding and treating mental health disorders and psychological distress through talk therapy and medication. They holistically consider the psychological, socioeconomic, and physiologic causes of their patients' symptoms, not just the symptoms themselves. Unlike psychologists, psychiatrists attend medical school and, up until residency, they complete the same medical training as all other MDs or DOs.
That covers the core rotations you'll encounter in medical school. You can learn more about each of them in our .
But we are far from done.
Plastic Surgery
You may have heard me mention this next one before. focuses primarily on soft tissue, such as skin, muscle, and fat, to reshape or reconstruct a patient's appearance or function. Aesthetic plastic surgery involves procedures like breast augmentation and liposuction. Reconstructive plastic surgery involves procedures to correct facial and body abnormalities. Plastic surgery is consistently one of the most competitive specialties, in part because it has one of the highest average annual compensations at over $600,000. Learn more about .
Otolaryngology
Otolaryngology, also known as , is a surgical subspecialty focusing on diseases of the head and neck region. This includes the vocal cords, nose, sinuses, ears, thyroid, and parathyroid, as well as head and neck cancers. ENT is also one of the most competitive specialties you can pursue.
Urology
are surgeons of the urogenital tract, which includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder, prostate, urethra, testes, and more. Urology can also cover sexual function, fertility, urinary continence, and gender identity.
Anesthesiology
are the patient's "guardian angel" during surgery, as they care for patients pre-op, intra-op, and post-op. They ensure patients are properly sedated and comfortable throughout the operation, maintaining stable vitals, blood circulation, and an open airway.
Radiology
Diagnostic radiology uses machines to visualize what is occurring inside the body. interpret these images and leverage the power of machines to both diagnose and treat disease. While most diagnostic radiologists spend their time in reading rooms, interventional radiologists can perform several procedures, such as ablating cancers with radiation-infused particles.
Pathology
Similar to radiology, is heavily intertwined with other fields of medicine and is considered a "support specialty." Pathologists primarily examine specimens to give tissue diagnoses and manage all of the clinical labs ordered by other physicians, from microbiology to hematology to chemistry and everything in between.
Emergency Medicine
treat patients with urgent healthcare needs, from acute conditions like heart attacks to exacerbations of chronic health conditions to stabilizing patients involved in trauma. EM doctors need to know a little bit about everything, making them the jack of all trades, master of one -- emergencies.
Critical Care
Critical care physicians, also known as intensivists, treat patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses in the ICU. While similar to emergency medicine, critical care focuses on the long-term, 24-hour care of a dangerously ill patient, as opposed to emergency medicine cases that require immediate evaluation and stabilization.
Preventive Medicine
Preventive medicine doctors apply their expertise in medicine, as well as the social, economic, and behavioral sciences, to show how changes to a patient's lifestyle can be an effective form of treatment and prevent illnesses before they occur. Preventive medicine physicians have one of the lowest annual salaries at around $250,000.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
, also known as a PM&R, is the jack-of-all-trades specialty focusing on the management of non-operative orthopedics and neuro-rehabilitation. Physiatrists are the primary physicians for certain nervous system or non-surgical orthopedic disorders, offering both medical and procedural treatments.
Orthopedics
Orthopedics, also known as orthopedic surgery, focuses on injuries and diseases of the body's musculoskeletal system, which includes a person's bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles, and nerves. Orthopedic surgeons are one of the highest paid specialists, close to plastic surgeons at around $575,000 a year.
Ophthalmology
deals with ocular and orbital diseases, which is anything relating to the eyes and immediate surrounding structures.
Dermatology
manage diseases of the skin, hair, and nails using both medical and procedural approaches. A dermatologist can identify and treat more than 3,000 conditions, including eczema, psoriasis, and skin cancer. A dermatologist's higher salary, coupled with the better-than-average work/life balance it provides, makes it a highly competitive specialty.
Other important internal medicine specialties include cardiology, gastroenterology, hematology, oncology, rheumatology, endocrinology, hepatology, infectious diseases, and allergy/immunology.
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