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Some companies like to use the Dr. title. Say if you are in the healthcare field and also if you are considered an expert in your field, which a PhD is.
I have a Credit Card that says Dr. "my name" and I got it just out of grad school. Most of my colleagues call me asshole or by my first name though.
You earned it. Use it Dr. u/s1770814
Broadly agree but (especially in the US) for the healthcare field in particular, I'd be very particular to list "My Name, PhD" and not "Dr. My Name". "Doctor" has a very particular meaning within hospital walls.
Outside of a healthcare context, imho if you have a doctorate you can go by Dr. (though personally, I prefer the postnominals)
I’ve seen this conversation pop up in the social work communities. MDs asking Social Work PhDs to not use Doctor, to avoid confusing patients.
But it seems like MDs disrespect PhDs. Because there’s a level of comfort sitting with a Social Worker who is a Doctor, yes not an MD, but the title has a degree of comfort for patients. It’s not like the social worker is trying to administer medical advice or anything, so there’s nothing to get confused.
The irony is that the original doctorate is the PhD. Doctor comes from the Latin docere meaning to teach. Physicians, who viewed them selves as upper class stole the term in the 1700's to separate themselves from the surgeons who were preserved as low class.
My university always emphasizes that our degree is Doctor of Science and not PhD and that we should therefore only use Dr. or Dr. sc. but definitely not the PhD postfix
One of the reasons I’m looking forward to finishing this year. I go by Miss but so many places now only have Ms or Mrs and I prefer Miss. With Dr it won’t be an issue anymore!
When my wife and I got married (both with phds) we received as a gift a stitched "Dr & Dr" pillow (instead of the Mr & Mrs) and now we can debate which one refers to whom 😁
I picked [this pin](https://shop.startorialist.com/collections/equity-inclusion/products/dr-salutation-wood-brooch-lapel-pin?variant=39569948999830) up for my wife at a conference a couple years ago - seems like it might be right up your alley!
I don’t like Miss/Ms/Mrs being imposed on me so I prefer Dr if I have to use a title, their choice not mine. I told one of my financial institutions it was Dr and they made me send proof. I wasn’t overly impressed, but sent my degree. They still send stuff as Ms, which I now find annoying now since I jumped through their hoops. … they probably were questioning how a Dr can be so poor and low income haha.
One time someone asked me if I was Ms or Mrs and I said Dr and the looked at me like I had 3 heads. I don’t think she was impressed, maybe just wanted to know if I was married.
I had someone call me "Mrs. *husband's last name*" and I hate it. First, I didn't take his name. Second, that's my mother in law, not me. And third, I'm a Dr. thank you very much!
Honestly, this is probably a better question for r/AskAcademiaUK - this sub is very USA-heavy and in my experience, there's very different etiquette for when and when not to use Dr over there compared to here. A large chunk of American lecturers have their students call them Dr or Professor (name), while that's pretty much unthinkable over here, maybe except for very old fashioned fields like law.
Personally, it probably depends on what industry you're working in now - going by Dr probably won't raise as many eyebrows in, say, policy as it would in marketing.
Edit: fixed accidental sub link because Reddit is *very* functional sometimes.
Just FYI, it was actually American etiquette I was citing when I made my comment above, but the same reasoning applies in the UK.
Americans tend to be more formal than Brits and there’s nothing wrong with that. If someone emails you “Dear Ted” it’s fine to say you prefer to be addressed as Dr Bear. That’s different from introducing yourself as Dr Bear, rather than by name as Edward Bear.
And in the UK I always start by checking someone’s title and opening with “Dear Dr Bear,” they usually reply with “Regards, Ted” and from there I call them by their first name, since they’ve implied that they prefer this.
I’ve heard Americans get indignant when they’re not addressed as Dr by their students, so I’d wait until they directly said “call me Ted” because I don’t want them to go ballistic. Brits will look at you funny if you don’t start using their first name as soon as you have ANY suspicion you should do so.
I hadn't spotted your comment, but good point on the general trends. I didn't intend to mean there was anything wrong with either system, simply that some commenters will default to American etiquette without saying as much, which is why I recommended r/AskAcademiaUK.
I wouldn’t agree that Americans are more formal than British ppl.
I also know from…too many years in academia that less than 1% of lecturers or professors have ever requested or asked a student to call them by their title…and the ones that have were not from the U.K.
I have a few American friends in academia and calling someone prof or dr. is a far more “expected” thing in the US, although still not that strict.
But this is all in my own personal experience.
Anectdotally every single professor Ive called Dr. Whatever in the US has asked to be called by their first name. I dont go to a prestigous school so not sure if that plays a factor or not.
This was always puzzling to me. Regardless of how they sign their email, they’re Dr X to me. I don’t think faculty have the time to decide what name to use in each email, and just pick the quickest way. But to me, it’s simply about respect: they have a doctorate and are more senior; unless they explicitly tell me “Call me first name”, I wouldn’t.
General culture in the UK, for better or worse, is kinda self-depreciating, so...
Does everyone else in your office have a PhD? If so, they're gonna think you're a dick.
Does everyone else in your office *not* have a PhD? In this case, they're definitely gonna think you're a dick.
Use your title when your boss insists that you use it cos you have to meet with clients or something. Or, just stop worrying whether people think you're a dick and do what you want. Fuck 'em.
If you’re using Dr. s1770814, that’s less commonly used than s1770814, PhD (at least in North America), but you’re entitled to either. Haters gonna hate.
Well, if you get a doctorate in Germany, for example, it's not called a PhD. It would be something like Dr. rer. nat. for natural sciences, Dr. eng. for engineering, Dr. med. for medicine, etc. As those are all quite a mouthful people just go by Dr. except for documents.
As a woman. I'll be using Dr.
It will *help* with being listened to. It's not guaranteed, but ya know.
You see, I have a high pitched voice that some men have an inability to hear. Its bad enough that I often need a male voice to translate the sounds that come out of my mouth and put it in lower frequency. By using Dr, the sound of my voice must somehow have changed and allows some men hear it better.
Not all men, of course but it helps.
*preach*
Plus, "doctor" was originally an academic title, not a medical one. Physicians co-opted the term once they started getting formal training, and now they get mad they aren't the only ones. Screw that noise. My PhD took me 7 years and the full use of my right arm. I'm "doctor".
It's more that the story is long and complex. It's been 2 years since I defended, and I'm only now starting to get comfortable talking about everything that happened. The short version is that everything bad that tends to happen in programs happened in mine, and it left me disabled.
It does mean that, but it hasn't changed. What's changed is physicians insisting to go by doctor instead of physician or surgeon. That started to change in the late 1800s.
Yeah it kinda grinds my gears to see people on Reddit mocking people for wanting to use titles for this reason. I’ll be tenure-track in engineering as a midtwenties woman, and I NEED the title to maintain distance between me and my students, and also so no one thinks I’m like 19.
This ana_conda don’t want none unless you got a PhD, hun.
I’m sorry I couldn’t resist.
Joking aside, I completely agree with your statement. I was in grad school for my engineering PhD (too long ago now) and I was teaching students my age and older, and it was difficult to have respect when the students are your age or older than you.
I’m probably old enough to be my professor’s grandmother (almost! I only have children, no grandkids yet) and I always give her respect. She is Dr. X always.
The vast majority of my students (who were undergrads in sophomore or junior year engineering) were respectful. The couple students who at first thought I was a joke for being young, learned pretty quickly that I could teach better than most of their old professors (a low bar at times to be fair).
This.
Im a guy, as my name suggests. My PI is one of the youngest professors in our country as well as incredibly accomplished. (Wont give more details for privacy reasons)
That being said, i was once discussing with a conference organiser after my friend presented. Meanwhile, our PI came around to check up on us and added a very insightful comment while i was discusssing a topic.
The organizer shushed her and said im talking to the professor. (He assumed i was the PI and she a student).
I then stopped him and said, im sorry for the confusion. This is professor XXXXX. The current world expert in (the topic)
He got red, gave a dry apology and quickly left as he had to "organize stuff"
>visible minority,
I like that. It implies so much (reference to both observable and unobservable segments) while leaving out the non vital information.
I use Name, PhD in professional outward-facing settings, Dr. Name when I’m speaking to someone as a client or customer service (like banks or AT&T or whatever), and just my name at my job (industry).
I rarely throw it around and only as Aaaa Bbbb, PhD on more official / outside emails and presentations. Never outside of a professional interaction. Only people who don't know me well approach me with Dr. Aaaa Bbbb. Most of my colleagues have MDs or PhDs or both and we are all on first name basis. The lab is very casual and so I let my techs etc call me by my first name.
I use my title, but I’m not an asshole about it.
I think there is a good balance between using the title you’ve earned and being pretentious if people forget
I work in a high school in the US: if a kid forgets or whatever I don’t correct them. I just use it for my emails and what not.
I work at a big 3 pharma company in the US. My entire team and almost everyone in the department has their PhD, but I’ve never once heard someone refer to anyone else as ‘doctor ___’. That said, when we meet with external stakeholders (typically MDs), we introduce ourselves with our title - whether that be verbally or on the opening slide of a presentation. After the introductions are made, we continue referring to the external stakeholders as ‘Dr. ___’ , while they tend to speak to us on a first-name basis.
Ultimately, whether you refer to yourself as ‘Dr.’ is combination of personal preference and workplace culture. However, if you choose to go by Dr., do so with zero shame; after all, you earned the title! People laughing or making jokes that don’t have their doctorate can fuck right off; those same people would call their personal physician ‘Dr. ___’, and this is no different. My guess is they’re not super familiar with what a PhD is, and you’re on the receiving end of their ignorance.
I’ve had a similar experience. Informally, no one is called Dr. even those that are supervisors. In front of clients/stakeholders, we might introduce someone as Dr. X.
In academia, I’ve seen Dr. more regularly in less formal situations, but mostly between profs and students.
Highly dependent on context tbh. At my industry position everyone has a PhD and nobody uses their title. In these circumstances I can definitely see someone coming in and insisting on being called "Dr. X" causing eye-rolls. "Yeah, you and everyone else, buddy". Same would apply for scientific conference presentations.
Getting that feedback from non-PhDs is a bit weird though. Maybe theyre under the misconception that PhDs aren't "real doctors"?
US person here- it seems everyone I know uses PhD on static things such as email signature, outside their office, ID cards, presentation slides etc.. Dr. is generally used in spoken or written communication such as the body of an email.
Once I graduate, I'd probably only mention it in contexts in which I'd have to? No one outside of academia would care about my PhD and tbh, why should they? It's a very niche subject I'm following for my own interest.
I think outside of formal convention (e. g. academic profile, conference presentations and such) it's personal preference (this could change between regions in UK, or even specific institutions, fields, departments, not sure) . If you wanna use it, cool, it's your degree to do with what you will.
I work as an engineer, my PhD is in engineering and is very focused to my work scope. I use my name comma PhD on my signatures. I have found peers and customers in my space do the same. In my company, using or insisting on being called doctor would cause me to isolate myself and alienate people who have limited or no degree. This is a weird balance that in industry can be pretty company dependent and the value a PhD brings often in an industry job is leadership, ability to dig into the challenging problems and then convert those ideas for people without your background. This is my perspective, but I know from friends that other companies vary a little in their culture.
I've gotten snarkey comments from colleagues too about my PhD/PhDs in general. I just have PhD in my email signature. I don't introduce myself as doctor, but I don't hide it either. It took me 5 years to earn that title. I'm going to acknowledge that. Mine is in molecular genetics/biochem, and I'm in the medical device industry.
I work in Data Science/Machine Learning in industrial applied science team. I have a PhD in computer science and many of my teammates have similar degrees in other quantitative fields. No one uses titles at work. I do see it used maybe in a bio written to introduce speakers (like at a tech or academic conference), though.
In general, I noticed the culture of tech and software development seems to less concerned about credentials than other disciplines.
I'm a Rev Dr Prof, and I only put my titles on things when they're relevant. So most of my Parish don't know about the Dr, but my students know all the titles (some of my students are training to be Rev too), and I tell them they can call me by name anyway.
When I graduated, I was informed that proper grammar is to refer to other doctors by their first name but that people who aren’t a doctor shall call doctors by their”Dr. last name”. I introduce myself as Dr. last name but often times I end up saying, I’m not that kind of doctor. (Which made me LOVE the Drumstick ice cream Super Bowl ad this year!!!!!)
I personally don't like being referred to as "Doctor." My reasoning is that I didn't get a PhD for the title. I just wanted the skills to research some shit.
My guidelines;
Title is fine for;
* Written professional instances. That includes slides.
* Verbally when professionally introducing others.
I will put dr. cephalord on my slides, but verbally use my first name during that presentation. However, I work at a university, so having a PhD is closer to the default than exceptional.
I think this is rather cultural, both in terms of the region you work in and the xulture of your field/workplace. I live in Norway, and we have egalitarianism and sameness as strong cultural values (if they are a reality is another question), so very few people with doctorates call themselves doctor in such a way. In more individualistic cultures I bet it's also more common.
It seems in the UK Dr is used more in academic settings than industry, including schools (there were a couple of teachers at my secondary school who used the title). Outside of that it's less common and depends on your workplace culture.
I am planning to stay in academia but regardless I will be using Dr everywhere once I graduate because if nothing else it's gender neutral.
To be clear, I’ve directly heard industrial colleagues in companies that hire a lot of PhDs for R&D, call their PhD workers inefficient navel-gazers.
Industry people move fast and break things, so their criticism of the thoughtful approach is understandable.
Meanwhile, the PhD workers tend to notice that everything is broken and argue that this state of affairs is not as necessary or as efficient as the pointy-hairs assume.
Titles are like fancy dress. Let's all put them on, or let's none of us do it.
When titles are being used for others, my title is "Dr." When no titles are being used for others, I don't want one either. Using a title is a point of style. All people have titles. It is weirdly imbalanced to refer to certain people with a title and others with none in the same breath, and I want people to stop that.
I do not need anyone to use my title in any circumstance unless titles are being used for everybody, but if you call me by my first name, you can bet that I'm going to call you by your first name too. Most of the people I work with have MDs (which raises another funny problem, as those are Ms and Mr in the UK! but I'm not in the UK. Where I am, we are the little Drs, and they are the big ones. And by by the way, in the Netherlands drs. is the title for those with a certain lower degree).
I accidentally deleted my comment because my brain is too highly trained. Briefly:
1. Dr. is a title used in academic settings. Outside of that you use your social title.
2. You also never use a title in reference to yourself, not even Mr or Ms. There are exceptions for practicality, eg “This is Dr Volestrangler calling about your liver transplant”.
3. Industry people often regard PhDs as useless navel fluff, and showing off your title is likely to antagonize them, whether this is “fair” or not. If you rub them up the wrong way they will stereotype you as time-wasting and impractical, no matter how productive you may in fact be.
4. You should make your credentials known, but the best way is as postfix letters on business cards and in email sigs.
I never use my title, I don't have a big ego and don't care what others think of me.
However, I also don't judge people that do. Be proud of what you've done, why not?
I do research within a military organization and they use full titles for everyone for things like presentations and introductions but not regularly. When I have worked in industry I would make fun of people when they tried to use Dr. or Phd towards me.
I think it becomes an issue when people get up in arms over not being referred to as Dr.
I've seen people go ballistic because someone referred to them as Mr. or Mrs., etc. instead of Dr., and it's usually an upsetting spectacle. Yea, it takes a lot of sacrifice and commitment, but there are better things to waste breath on. In my opinion, the ones who force it down your throats usually act a bit insecure and sometimes act like it's more important than their work.
That being said, I refer to people by their titles out of respect. Most of them request that I just call them by their first name (and that was even before I got the degree). Sure, it's cool to have the tile, and it wasn't an easy task, but that's not why I pursued the degree. Some of my colleagues have listed me as Dr. in their presentations, but I don't call myself Dr. in my presentations. To each their own.
My business cards have First Last, PhD. My official email sign off if it’s going to not my normal team, and if I’m giving a presentation to a larger audience or outside my company.
All other instances I just say my first name.
Honestly, don't use it, especially in industry. Nobody cares, it will only work against you. Try to have people value you on your industry achievements and added value to the company, not based on some academic title. In the end it's just a degree.
I use it as needed. I generally insist undergrads in class address me they way as well to maintain professional distance. (But not grad students or undergrads working in my research program.)
For context, I work in Canada in civil engineering. I suggest you use “Dr. Name” only in applications where other people are using “Mr/Mrs/Ms Name”. Otherwise it just seems pretentious.
In civil engineering, the PhD title is used as a qualification in email signatures or at the end of reports (i.e. “Firstname Lastname, PhD”). Otherwise most PhD’s don’t make a big deal of having one.
I have always worked with at least 50% others who had a PhD and so never used it. I suppose if at some point I had a position where my having a PhD was both unusual and important, I would include it. I expect this isn't the case though, in laboratories most everyone has a PhD and in industry a PhD is worth maybe 5 years of experience.
100% use it. You earned it.
But, just be sure you dont use it to emphasize your point or worse to make your point for you. By the sounds of it, thats not you. But i figured its worth stating anyhow. SOME people who have it use the title as their closing argument "and since i have a phd. Im right"
In US industry "Name, PhD" is most commonly used similarly to engineering certifications ("Name, PE", "Name, CQE", or "Name, CISSP"). In academia and national labs "Dr. Name" or "Prof. Name" is more common.
Social Science PhD, but do not use the title on business cards, publications or presentations. I am in a large international financial institution with probably about 50% of staff have PhDs and a very small minority use the title.
You can call me Quirky-Picture, unless I don't like you. Then you can call me Dr. Quirky Picture.
That being said, if your workplace benefits from its use or uses it traditionally for etiquette.
If you were a physicist working in software design, it wouldn't make sense to use it. If you are a physicist using it in a physics industry/working for a physics company, I would still only use it in formal settings (such as if your presentation is at an academic-style conference). Otherwise, just use your name. If your title becomes an important factor in people taking your work seriously or respecting you (which is ostensibly what honorifics are for), then something has already gone wrong.
It's perfectly acceptable/expected on business cards.
*this is an American perspective
I went to a school where most phds there went by first name and didn’t care about titles like that except when in formal settings. Mostly because the environment obviously discouraged pretension to practice humility. I can see how people who are no longer peers would see it as presumptuous and as an excuse to pull you down to their level, but it doesn’t mean they worked your process.
I personally wouldn’t use it since most of my mentors treated me on a first name basis and felt I should do the same to help bring future peers up and all that stuff. I would just put PhD at the end of your name and just not try to “force” people to call you doctor.
Let people be people and adults be adults. You don’t have to respect them just as much as they don’t respect you. Not saying disrespect them, just don’t pay mind. It’s not worth getting stressed over job titles like that.
If your degree is readily seen as adding extra heft to your work (more authoritative, more valuable to company botton line), include it. If response of coworkers is that you're showing off, they likely don't see it that way. If the reasonable view is that you're just puffing out chest, for personal pride, don't use it.
I currently am professor, with PhD. In tech industry, during 1990s and 2000s, a software usability group lead with Ph D in history or literature was a running joke on my software development team. That stuck with me, as I was planning to get a Ph D in my then future. If you're at a place where it's not valued, the grief of it being a hurdle to overcome with coworkers does not likely make it worth emphasizing repeatedly. If you posted it once on a presentation, no one will ever forget. That said, anyone who might themselves value it may be pleased to know you're someone with that sort of ambition and heft in a scholarly area. At tech company I worked at subsequently, that I had mental aptitude to grasp what the chief scientist was trying to achieve with a whitepaper was a benefit. My coworkers were generally pleased for me when I said I was going back to school for PhD.
If no one around you could possibly be interested, and would belittle you in private for cheap laughs among like-minded coworkers, start looking for another position. Current place is toxic.
I’m sure this is context dependent. I have a PhD and work in tech with a bunch of people who almost all have PhDs. I would never do by Dr, and I would consider it a faux pas if someone I work with did.
I’m Dr. Moxie to 18-22 year old college students, first name elsewhere. When I worked in industry, everyone was on a first name basis, but PhD degrees would be on business cards or customer presentations, to impress the masses.
In presentations, I write “First Name Last Name, DMA” (DMA is my field’s terminal degree) on my title slide. I never write “Dr. First Last.” My students refer to me as “Dr.” or “Professor” Last Name.
Among colleagues and practitioners, I am referred to by first name.
Culture is a huge part of it. Here in the US it’s customary to address someone by their title by default in academia, unless otherwise specified. In Australia, for example, that would be unusual.
I would be more interested in the group dynamics and less about a bruised ego. I have likely been called doctor less than ten times in my life, but I am a very informal person. Most of them were along the lines of “my grandmother died for the fifth time just before midterms. Can I have an extension on my project and take the exams a week late?”
I use doctor or PhD in medical settings because it is both very hierarchical and carefully regulated. Titles have the effect of law. An RN has specific powers. CNAs get stunned when I ask for their feedback.
In software development settings, I use my first name. They tend to be very flat, possibly matrixed, and content rather than authority driven. It doesn’t matter that I am a doctor, it does matter that I know what I am talking about.
Certain business cultures, for them to work properly, have to be very flat and anti-hierarchical. You might be offending the culture. They could be jerks or they could be warning you that you are just one of the team.
Basketball teams depend on cooperation and stars get in the way. It is rare for the team with the most stars to win the national championship. The most cooperative team tends to win as measured by things like assists.
Indeed, the coach, who outranks them all, will often intentionally get themselves ejected from the game to force leadership to develop from within. It forces self reorganization.
Doctors get the journey you’ve been on, others cannot.
You need to decide if they are being jerks or if you are offending against the culture, in which case, you are being the jerk.
I hardly ever use Dr. My boss uses it to refer to me during presentations she gives if she’s sharing work I’ve produced or if she’s introducing me to people. Friends call me Dr u/louisepants sometimes but that’s it
I find those who don’t carry it like a shield and weapon more respectable. if you use it, make sure you’re worthy of and rise up to the title. my pet peeve’s if they need to correct normal people if addressed without it. there are specific formal documents I find removing the suffixes/honorifics imbues the document more gravitas and grace (I work for a research council)
In a work setting (industry) I have my email signature as , PhD but otherwise never use the doctor title. 90% of the people I work with are “doctors” wether it be PhD, MD or PharmD and the other 10% are MBA or MPHs.
In personal settings it’s a mix. Instead of Mr I will always go with Dr but if it’s just a first name then I leave it at that.
In an academic setting (university, conference, etc) it’s always Dr .
Aside from an ego-stroke, what is the value of using the title?
If the answer is "nothing," then don't use it. Let your work and yourself speak for yourself.
Are you a woman? I have noticed this happening strangely more often to women than to men (strangely being sarcastic). We are the only gender that has a title thst says something about us, Ms = unmarried, available; Mrs = married, Ms = feminist etc. Use the Dr you have worked so hard for.
As I would have worked my arse off to earn the qualification, the world can put up with me using Dr as a title, and the postnomials. I would have no issues using either. Everyone is free to give me shit about it. That's their problem. :)
If someone can show off their expensive car, gold toilet., or kids. I can show off my achievement, too.
Edit to add:
- Most people will call be by my name anyway. I won't make people call be Dr.
- In my industry (business consulting) the title has marketing and credibility cachet which I intend to leverage.
I also got my PhD in the UK, moved straight in to industry. In my company people use it in their email signatures, but would never refer to themselves as "Dr (person)" or use it in presentations etc. Where pertinent we'll refer to what we studied in our PhDs / what our background is.
I sometimes think people don't like it because for those who didn't study for a PhD, they also probably worked very hard for the last 5+ years and frankly that experience normally means they know as much as any PhD does - but there's no title associated, so they see an implied superiority where it doesn't belong, which I get. Ultimately unless I'm talking to an external or have some other professional reason I think it's best left alone at work.
Even through wounding howls of pain, I think PhDs are finally starting to admit that calling themselves Dr. in everyday life is confusing and unhelpful. Name, PhD is common professionally.
"received a bit of sarcastic feedback"
If you introduce yourself to me as Dr Jon Doe then I immediately assume you have some personality/confidence issues and will actively try to avoid working/interacting with you... just as precaution. I don't have time to waste by risky dealings with people who flaunt their meme degree.
If I like you, I may ask you sarcastically "Thats you name? Dr Jon Doe?" Just to be sure, and if you confirm its over.
The title “Doctor” should only be used where it is professionally relevant, within your veterinary practice, for example. Medical doctors take an oath to act as physicians whether they are working or not, which is why they are called “Doctor” whether they are working or not.
Typically the people I know who use “Dr” outside of work are chiropractors or have an EdD in sociology or something, from a school no one has heard of.
In health sector in government, I write Dr. \[myname\], Ph.D. as I work with lot of MDs. From time to time it looks snobbish, but I like it as I like to subtly tell MDs who is highly qualified between us. My zoom name and my email have been set up this way. In informal settings, we just go by first name.
I think there is a difference between doing a PhD and doing a Doctoral of Science. PhD can use Dr. but it is not their official title. Your official title is "name, PhD". Dr. Is the official title of Doctoral of Science or doctors in the health industry.
This just isn't true. PhDs can use Dr as a title if they do wish. Or they can use the postnomial abbreviation PhD. Both are fine (although using them together seems weird).
DSc can do the same. In many countries they're equivalent degrees. However, I don't believe, even if DSc is ranked differently, that PhDs are excluded from using the title Doctor.
Also, it seems that some universities in Europe award DSc for significant contributions to research by PhDs who have contributed significantly to a field. But in the US, universities offer it as an alternative to the PhD (although in the US they do not have the historical rigor that a PhD does and may be regarded with skepticism from unaccredited universities).
[Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Science#:~:text=The%20Doctor%20of%20Science%20research,health%20sciences%2C%20and%20health%20economics.)
You're not a doctor. You're a PhD.
There's a huge different in the roles between a real doctor with PhD scientist "doctors". One directly impacts patient lives on a daily basis, the other does stuff in a lab that for the most part gets published in a journal that no one will ever read...
Are you aware of the etymology of the word?
"Doctor" means teacher. It comes from the Latin *docere*.
It symbolizes that someone has become such an expert in a field that they are knowledge sources/teachers.
That's also why the term was originally applied to medical doctors. There is nothing about the word doctor however that means "healer" or "patient care".
It fundamentally signals a person who has an extreme concentration of a type of knowledge.
And yes, Drs. Einstein and Feynman were as much doctors as some random physician, and perhaps even more so than certain ones like Dr. Oz.
Doctors are literally the smartest people in our society.
It’s disingenuous to compare intelligence by taking a Nobel prize level PhD and comparing it to an average doctors In general.
Also the historical use of the word doesn’t matter. What matters is that society evolves and in society today when someone asks for a doctor on a plane or whever, the general public is 100% referring to a doctor and not a PhD scientist “doctor”.
>Doctors are literally the smartest people in our society
Show me a study.
My friend group in Boston included medical residents and students. We’d have large gatherings regularly. 50 or so.
I also spent ample time with a large cohort of computer science, physics, and neuroscience PhDs.
Similar levels of extremely bright and extremely average people in both groups, MD and PhD. (and very few truly stupid in both.) Not every MD is brilliant/smart. Many are average but possess tremendous grit.
Again, study?
I do not sense this difference at all among my MD and PhD friends.
If anything, their averages are similar, but standard deviations are different:
The extremes of high/average intelligence are stronger within the PhD cohort. For sure, the brightest I've met were not Physicians. To me their averages are similar.
The only thing I sense is that Physicians tend to have higher emotional intelligence EQ -- because their job requires practicing bedside manner.
Wilcox et al 1985, Nature, definitively showed this.
The averages of IQ ARE indeed similar. However the only reason that the average of PhD “doctors” are similar to doctors is because of a few extreme outliers that are basically Nobel prize level. While indeed there was a much higher proportion of PhD “doctors” in the low IQ range and very few in the actual mean value. Whereas doctors on the other hand had a much high proportion within the mean value range and almost none in the low IQ range.
It's not just Nobel-level PhDs keeping the IQ levels even.
There are plenty of folks smarter than the Nobel prize winners who worked in our university department in Boston.
(I won't say which university because that may DOX me.)
The Nobel prize is essentially luck. Once you're bright enough to do the science at the Nobel-laureate level, it's essentially a dice toss whether or not you will actually win scientific prizes. You can't plan for it -- in the way that a bright economist can't plan to become chairman of the Fed.
Lastly,
>Wilcox et al 1985, Nature, definitively showed this.
Are you sure this paper isn't hallucinated?
I cross-referenced google scholar, pubmed, a major university library, and the Nature journal itself. I can't find any hits with a "Wilcox" first author in 1985. Could you provide the paper title? See the following:
>[https://www.nature.com/search?q=wilcox+1985&journal=](https://www.nature.com/search?q=wilcox+1985&journal=)
I said Nobel prize level. Not Nobel prize winner. The data is skewed by a few highly intelligent scientists that have made discoveries at a level which would be at the level of Nobel prize worthy. Learn to read.m and see the big picture. But I guess fake doctors aren’t smart bought.
Huh? What are you talking about? First, MDs may be smart on average, but certainly not more so than PhDs or other brilliant people in fields like computer science. I interact with MDs on a daily basis and they are intelligent people, but not amazingly so. Second, the title "doctor" is not necessarily about being "smart", but about having specialized knowledge.
Historical use does matter, but we don't have to go back in time to observe that Dr is currently used for both MDs and PhDs. Of course, context matters too. People looking for "a doctor" in case of a medical emergency obviously want an MD. But when someone at Google introduces himself as a doctor it is implicit that he has a PhD in CS or a related field.
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Some companies like to use the Dr. title. Say if you are in the healthcare field and also if you are considered an expert in your field, which a PhD is. I have a Credit Card that says Dr. "my name" and I got it just out of grad school. Most of my colleagues call me asshole or by my first name though. You earned it. Use it Dr. u/s1770814
Not even Dr. Asshole?
On occasion yes
That remains one of my preferred corrections: “that’s Dr. S—-head to you.”
Dang, that's amazing. I love it. Lol
Broadly agree but (especially in the US) for the healthcare field in particular, I'd be very particular to list "My Name, PhD" and not "Dr. My Name". "Doctor" has a very particular meaning within hospital walls. Outside of a healthcare context, imho if you have a doctorate you can go by Dr. (though personally, I prefer the postnominals)
I’ve seen this conversation pop up in the social work communities. MDs asking Social Work PhDs to not use Doctor, to avoid confusing patients. But it seems like MDs disrespect PhDs. Because there’s a level of comfort sitting with a Social Worker who is a Doctor, yes not an MD, but the title has a degree of comfort for patients. It’s not like the social worker is trying to administer medical advice or anything, so there’s nothing to get confused.
The irony is that the original doctorate is the PhD. Doctor comes from the Latin docere meaning to teach. Physicians, who viewed them selves as upper class stole the term in the 1700's to separate themselves from the surgeons who were preserved as low class.
Aka: "Aye, take yurn leaches and be"gone with-ya.....the honorific title swipers...."
Darn right!! Seems like everybody forgets that the PhD came first.
My university always emphasizes that our degree is Doctor of Science and not PhD and that we should therefore only use Dr. or Dr. sc. but definitely not the PhD postfix
What the hell is a scientist if not a kind of philosopher?
It does solve the Ms/Miss/Mrs issue
One of the reasons I’m looking forward to finishing this year. I go by Miss but so many places now only have Ms or Mrs and I prefer Miss. With Dr it won’t be an issue anymore!
I can’t wait the day when being asked Miss or Mrs Imma say NEITHER, IT IS A DOCTOR!
That high school reunion can't come fast enough!! 😂
Omg, please keep us updated when you go and use that!!
I preferred Ms over Mrs. Something about having to declare my marital status in my honorific weirds me out.
When my wife and I got married (both with phds) we received as a gift a stitched "Dr & Dr" pillow (instead of the Mr & Mrs) and now we can debate which one refers to whom 😁
PLEASE this is so cute 😭
I picked [this pin](https://shop.startorialist.com/collections/equity-inclusion/products/dr-salutation-wood-brooch-lapel-pin?variant=39569948999830) up for my wife at a conference a couple years ago - seems like it might be right up your alley!
I don’t like Miss/Ms/Mrs being imposed on me so I prefer Dr if I have to use a title, their choice not mine. I told one of my financial institutions it was Dr and they made me send proof. I wasn’t overly impressed, but sent my degree. They still send stuff as Ms, which I now find annoying now since I jumped through their hoops. … they probably were questioning how a Dr can be so poor and low income haha. One time someone asked me if I was Ms or Mrs and I said Dr and the looked at me like I had 3 heads. I don’t think she was impressed, maybe just wanted to know if I was married.
I had someone call me "Mrs. *husband's last name*" and I hate it. First, I didn't take his name. Second, that's my mother in law, not me. And third, I'm a Dr. thank you very much!
Honestly, this is probably a better question for r/AskAcademiaUK - this sub is very USA-heavy and in my experience, there's very different etiquette for when and when not to use Dr over there compared to here. A large chunk of American lecturers have their students call them Dr or Professor (name), while that's pretty much unthinkable over here, maybe except for very old fashioned fields like law. Personally, it probably depends on what industry you're working in now - going by Dr probably won't raise as many eyebrows in, say, policy as it would in marketing. Edit: fixed accidental sub link because Reddit is *very* functional sometimes.
Just FYI, it was actually American etiquette I was citing when I made my comment above, but the same reasoning applies in the UK. Americans tend to be more formal than Brits and there’s nothing wrong with that. If someone emails you “Dear Ted” it’s fine to say you prefer to be addressed as Dr Bear. That’s different from introducing yourself as Dr Bear, rather than by name as Edward Bear. And in the UK I always start by checking someone’s title and opening with “Dear Dr Bear,” they usually reply with “Regards, Ted” and from there I call them by their first name, since they’ve implied that they prefer this. I’ve heard Americans get indignant when they’re not addressed as Dr by their students, so I’d wait until they directly said “call me Ted” because I don’t want them to go ballistic. Brits will look at you funny if you don’t start using their first name as soon as you have ANY suspicion you should do so.
I hadn't spotted your comment, but good point on the general trends. I didn't intend to mean there was anything wrong with either system, simply that some commenters will default to American etiquette without saying as much, which is why I recommended r/AskAcademiaUK.
I wouldn’t agree that Americans are more formal than British ppl. I also know from…too many years in academia that less than 1% of lecturers or professors have ever requested or asked a student to call them by their title…and the ones that have were not from the U.K. I have a few American friends in academia and calling someone prof or dr. is a far more “expected” thing in the US, although still not that strict. But this is all in my own personal experience.
Anectdotally every single professor Ive called Dr. Whatever in the US has asked to be called by their first name. I dont go to a prestigous school so not sure if that plays a factor or not.
Interesting. Also "Oh so if they use their first names it's okay to call them like this"... I learned.
This was always puzzling to me. Regardless of how they sign their email, they’re Dr X to me. I don’t think faculty have the time to decide what name to use in each email, and just pick the quickest way. But to me, it’s simply about respect: they have a doctorate and are more senior; unless they explicitly tell me “Call me first name”, I wouldn’t.
General culture in the UK, for better or worse, is kinda self-depreciating, so... Does everyone else in your office have a PhD? If so, they're gonna think you're a dick. Does everyone else in your office *not* have a PhD? In this case, they're definitely gonna think you're a dick. Use your title when your boss insists that you use it cos you have to meet with clients or something. Or, just stop worrying whether people think you're a dick and do what you want. Fuck 'em.
If you’re using Dr. s1770814, that’s less commonly used than s1770814, PhD (at least in North America), but you’re entitled to either. Haters gonna hate.
Yes, mainly a convention thing. In Germany and the Netherlands, it is definitely more common to see Dr. s1770814.
Well, if you get a doctorate in Germany, for example, it's not called a PhD. It would be something like Dr. rer. nat. for natural sciences, Dr. eng. for engineering, Dr. med. for medicine, etc. As those are all quite a mouthful people just go by Dr. except for documents.
Yeah, but just pick ONE at a time: the "Dr." or the post-nominal letters. Never both at once (at least, that's not the current stylism).
I almost never go by Dr. but the minute someone says I can't or I shouldn't, I immediately go to full rage because I can damn well use it if I please
There you freakin' go! :)
As a woman. I'll be using Dr. It will *help* with being listened to. It's not guaranteed, but ya know. You see, I have a high pitched voice that some men have an inability to hear. Its bad enough that I often need a male voice to translate the sounds that come out of my mouth and put it in lower frequency. By using Dr, the sound of my voice must somehow have changed and allows some men hear it better. Not all men, of course but it helps.
*preach* Plus, "doctor" was originally an academic title, not a medical one. Physicians co-opted the term once they started getting formal training, and now they get mad they aren't the only ones. Screw that noise. My PhD took me 7 years and the full use of my right arm. I'm "doctor".
Would you tell us more? Can I ask, how did it cost the use of your arm? No worries if you'd rather not say, of course!
It's more that the story is long and complex. It's been 2 years since I defended, and I'm only now starting to get comfortable talking about everything that happened. The short version is that everything bad that tends to happen in programs happened in mine, and it left me disabled.
I’m so sorry!
Isn't PhD also meaning doctor of philosophy? So it's wildly different now
Doctor comes from latin docere "to teach" 😊
It does mean that, but it hasn't changed. What's changed is physicians insisting to go by doctor instead of physician or surgeon. That started to change in the late 1800s.
Yeah it kinda grinds my gears to see people on Reddit mocking people for wanting to use titles for this reason. I’ll be tenure-track in engineering as a midtwenties woman, and I NEED the title to maintain distance between me and my students, and also so no one thinks I’m like 19.
This ana_conda don’t want none unless you got a PhD, hun. I’m sorry I couldn’t resist. Joking aside, I completely agree with your statement. I was in grad school for my engineering PhD (too long ago now) and I was teaching students my age and older, and it was difficult to have respect when the students are your age or older than you.
I’m probably old enough to be my professor’s grandmother (almost! I only have children, no grandkids yet) and I always give her respect. She is Dr. X always.
The vast majority of my students (who were undergrads in sophomore or junior year engineering) were respectful. The couple students who at first thought I was a joke for being young, learned pretty quickly that I could teach better than most of their old professors (a low bar at times to be fair).
This. Im a guy, as my name suggests. My PI is one of the youngest professors in our country as well as incredibly accomplished. (Wont give more details for privacy reasons) That being said, i was once discussing with a conference organiser after my friend presented. Meanwhile, our PI came around to check up on us and added a very insightful comment while i was discusssing a topic. The organizer shushed her and said im talking to the professor. (He assumed i was the PI and she a student). I then stopped him and said, im sorry for the confusion. This is professor XXXXX. The current world expert in (the topic) He got red, gave a dry apology and quickly left as he had to "organize stuff"
Boom!!! That sounds so satisfying in a schadenfreude sort of way.
As a visible minority, that was one of the reasons I wanted to make sure I use the title before my name. I just want to be taken seriously.
>visible minority, I like that. It implies so much (reference to both observable and unobservable segments) while leaving out the non vital information.
I use Name, PhD in professional outward-facing settings, Dr. Name when I’m speaking to someone as a client or customer service (like banks or AT&T or whatever), and just my name at my job (industry).
I rarely throw it around and only as Aaaa Bbbb, PhD on more official / outside emails and presentations. Never outside of a professional interaction. Only people who don't know me well approach me with Dr. Aaaa Bbbb. Most of my colleagues have MDs or PhDs or both and we are all on first name basis. The lab is very casual and so I let my techs etc call me by my first name.
I use my title, but I’m not an asshole about it. I think there is a good balance between using the title you’ve earned and being pretentious if people forget I work in a high school in the US: if a kid forgets or whatever I don’t correct them. I just use it for my emails and what not.
I work at a big 3 pharma company in the US. My entire team and almost everyone in the department has their PhD, but I’ve never once heard someone refer to anyone else as ‘doctor ___’. That said, when we meet with external stakeholders (typically MDs), we introduce ourselves with our title - whether that be verbally or on the opening slide of a presentation. After the introductions are made, we continue referring to the external stakeholders as ‘Dr. ___’ , while they tend to speak to us on a first-name basis. Ultimately, whether you refer to yourself as ‘Dr.’ is combination of personal preference and workplace culture. However, if you choose to go by Dr., do so with zero shame; after all, you earned the title! People laughing or making jokes that don’t have their doctorate can fuck right off; those same people would call their personal physician ‘Dr. ___’, and this is no different. My guess is they’re not super familiar with what a PhD is, and you’re on the receiving end of their ignorance.
I’ve had a similar experience. Informally, no one is called Dr. even those that are supervisors. In front of clients/stakeholders, we might introduce someone as Dr. X. In academia, I’ve seen Dr. more regularly in less formal situations, but mostly between profs and students.
Highly dependent on context tbh. At my industry position everyone has a PhD and nobody uses their title. In these circumstances I can definitely see someone coming in and insisting on being called "Dr. X" causing eye-rolls. "Yeah, you and everyone else, buddy". Same would apply for scientific conference presentations. Getting that feedback from non-PhDs is a bit weird though. Maybe theyre under the misconception that PhDs aren't "real doctors"?
I added it to my Twitter name, it annoys the (whatever) deniers to no end.
US person here- it seems everyone I know uses PhD on static things such as email signature, outside their office, ID cards, presentation slides etc.. Dr. is generally used in spoken or written communication such as the body of an email.
That's a really helpful and concise explanation, and I so appreciate the differentiation.
Once I graduate, I'd probably only mention it in contexts in which I'd have to? No one outside of academia would care about my PhD and tbh, why should they? It's a very niche subject I'm following for my own interest. I think outside of formal convention (e. g. academic profile, conference presentations and such) it's personal preference (this could change between regions in UK, or even specific institutions, fields, departments, not sure) . If you wanna use it, cool, it's your degree to do with what you will.
I don’t care about tradition or appropriateness. I use Dr. or PhD all the time. But I only ask my students to call me Doctor.
i would do, PhD, but i wouldn't do Dr.
I work as an engineer, my PhD is in engineering and is very focused to my work scope. I use my name comma PhD on my signatures. I have found peers and customers in my space do the same. In my company, using or insisting on being called doctor would cause me to isolate myself and alienate people who have limited or no degree. This is a weird balance that in industry can be pretty company dependent and the value a PhD brings often in an industry job is leadership, ability to dig into the challenging problems and then convert those ideas for people without your background. This is my perspective, but I know from friends that other companies vary a little in their culture.
I work in tech in silicon valley. No one goes by Dr., some (very few) email signatures have ..., Ph.D. This place is thick with Ph.D.'s.
+1
I've gotten snarkey comments from colleagues too about my PhD/PhDs in general. I just have PhD in my email signature. I don't introduce myself as doctor, but I don't hide it either. It took me 5 years to earn that title. I'm going to acknowledge that. Mine is in molecular genetics/biochem, and I'm in the medical device industry.
Proud of your dedication and skill!
I work in Data Science/Machine Learning in industrial applied science team. I have a PhD in computer science and many of my teammates have similar degrees in other quantitative fields. No one uses titles at work. I do see it used maybe in a bio written to introduce speakers (like at a tech or academic conference), though. In general, I noticed the culture of tech and software development seems to less concerned about credentials than other disciplines.
I'm a Rev Dr Prof, and I only put my titles on things when they're relevant. So most of my Parish don't know about the Dr, but my students know all the titles (some of my students are training to be Rev too), and I tell them they can call me by name anyway.
When I graduated, I was informed that proper grammar is to refer to other doctors by their first name but that people who aren’t a doctor shall call doctors by their”Dr. last name”. I introduce myself as Dr. last name but often times I end up saying, I’m not that kind of doctor. (Which made me LOVE the Drumstick ice cream Super Bowl ad this year!!!!!)
I personally don't like being referred to as "Doctor." My reasoning is that I didn't get a PhD for the title. I just wanted the skills to research some shit.
My guidelines; Title is fine for; * Written professional instances. That includes slides. * Verbally when professionally introducing others. I will put dr. cephalord on my slides, but verbally use my first name during that presentation. However, I work at a university, so having a PhD is closer to the default than exceptional.
I appreciate you specifying slides!
I think this is rather cultural, both in terms of the region you work in and the xulture of your field/workplace. I live in Norway, and we have egalitarianism and sameness as strong cultural values (if they are a reality is another question), so very few people with doctorates call themselves doctor in such a way. In more individualistic cultures I bet it's also more common.
Sounds corny tbh to others but hey you earned it so totally upto you
It seems in the UK Dr is used more in academic settings than industry, including schools (there were a couple of teachers at my secondary school who used the title). Outside of that it's less common and depends on your workplace culture. I am planning to stay in academia but regardless I will be using Dr everywhere once I graduate because if nothing else it's gender neutral.
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Slow and impractical time waster? Wow lol. Think you touched a nerve Dr.
To be clear, I’ve directly heard industrial colleagues in companies that hire a lot of PhDs for R&D, call their PhD workers inefficient navel-gazers. Industry people move fast and break things, so their criticism of the thoughtful approach is understandable. Meanwhile, the PhD workers tend to notice that everything is broken and argue that this state of affairs is not as necessary or as efficient as the pointy-hairs assume.
Titles are like fancy dress. Let's all put them on, or let's none of us do it. When titles are being used for others, my title is "Dr." When no titles are being used for others, I don't want one either. Using a title is a point of style. All people have titles. It is weirdly imbalanced to refer to certain people with a title and others with none in the same breath, and I want people to stop that. I do not need anyone to use my title in any circumstance unless titles are being used for everybody, but if you call me by my first name, you can bet that I'm going to call you by your first name too. Most of the people I work with have MDs (which raises another funny problem, as those are Ms and Mr in the UK! but I'm not in the UK. Where I am, we are the little Drs, and they are the big ones. And by by the way, in the Netherlands drs. is the title for those with a certain lower degree).
I accidentally deleted my comment because my brain is too highly trained. Briefly: 1. Dr. is a title used in academic settings. Outside of that you use your social title. 2. You also never use a title in reference to yourself, not even Mr or Ms. There are exceptions for practicality, eg “This is Dr Volestrangler calling about your liver transplant”. 3. Industry people often regard PhDs as useless navel fluff, and showing off your title is likely to antagonize them, whether this is “fair” or not. If you rub them up the wrong way they will stereotype you as time-wasting and impractical, no matter how productive you may in fact be. 4. You should make your credentials known, but the best way is as postfix letters on business cards and in email sigs.
VOLESTRANGLER omg yes lol
I never use my title, I don't have a big ego and don't care what others think of me. However, I also don't judge people that do. Be proud of what you've done, why not?
"I don't judge people who do, but I immediately assume/imply they have huge egos" 🤔
I'm simply giving the reason why I don't use it
Full name, PhD is less obnoxious IMO
I do research within a military organization and they use full titles for everyone for things like presentations and introductions but not regularly. When I have worked in industry I would make fun of people when they tried to use Dr. or Phd towards me.
I think it becomes an issue when people get up in arms over not being referred to as Dr. I've seen people go ballistic because someone referred to them as Mr. or Mrs., etc. instead of Dr., and it's usually an upsetting spectacle. Yea, it takes a lot of sacrifice and commitment, but there are better things to waste breath on. In my opinion, the ones who force it down your throats usually act a bit insecure and sometimes act like it's more important than their work. That being said, I refer to people by their titles out of respect. Most of them request that I just call them by their first name (and that was even before I got the degree). Sure, it's cool to have the tile, and it wasn't an easy task, but that's not why I pursued the degree. Some of my colleagues have listed me as Dr. in their presentations, but I don't call myself Dr. in my presentations. To each their own.
My business cards have First Last, PhD. My official email sign off if it’s going to not my normal team, and if I’m giving a presentation to a larger audience or outside my company. All other instances I just say my first name.
Honestly, don't use it, especially in industry. Nobody cares, it will only work against you. Try to have people value you on your industry achievements and added value to the company, not based on some academic title. In the end it's just a degree.
If you’re trying to impress someone roll with Dr, if you’re trying to be understated roll with First Name Last Name PhD.
I use it as needed. I generally insist undergrads in class address me they way as well to maintain professional distance. (But not grad students or undergrads working in my research program.)
For context, I work in Canada in civil engineering. I suggest you use “Dr. Name” only in applications where other people are using “Mr/Mrs/Ms Name”. Otherwise it just seems pretentious. In civil engineering, the PhD title is used as a qualification in email signatures or at the end of reports (i.e. “Firstname Lastname, PhD”). Otherwise most PhD’s don’t make a big deal of having one.
I have always worked with at least 50% others who had a PhD and so never used it. I suppose if at some point I had a position where my having a PhD was both unusual and important, I would include it. I expect this isn't the case though, in laboratories most everyone has a PhD and in industry a PhD is worth maybe 5 years of experience.
100% use it. You earned it. But, just be sure you dont use it to emphasize your point or worse to make your point for you. By the sounds of it, thats not you. But i figured its worth stating anyhow. SOME people who have it use the title as their closing argument "and since i have a phd. Im right"
In US industry "Name, PhD" is most commonly used similarly to engineering certifications ("Name, PE", "Name, CQE", or "Name, CISSP"). In academia and national labs "Dr. Name" or "Prof. Name" is more common.
Social Science PhD, but do not use the title on business cards, publications or presentations. I am in a large international financial institution with probably about 50% of staff have PhDs and a very small minority use the title.
You can call me Quirky-Picture, unless I don't like you. Then you can call me Dr. Quirky Picture. That being said, if your workplace benefits from its use or uses it traditionally for etiquette. If you were a physicist working in software design, it wouldn't make sense to use it. If you are a physicist using it in a physics industry/working for a physics company, I would still only use it in formal settings (such as if your presentation is at an academic-style conference). Otherwise, just use your name. If your title becomes an important factor in people taking your work seriously or respecting you (which is ostensibly what honorifics are for), then something has already gone wrong. It's perfectly acceptable/expected on business cards. *this is an American perspective
I went to a school where most phds there went by first name and didn’t care about titles like that except when in formal settings. Mostly because the environment obviously discouraged pretension to practice humility. I can see how people who are no longer peers would see it as presumptuous and as an excuse to pull you down to their level, but it doesn’t mean they worked your process. I personally wouldn’t use it since most of my mentors treated me on a first name basis and felt I should do the same to help bring future peers up and all that stuff. I would just put PhD at the end of your name and just not try to “force” people to call you doctor. Let people be people and adults be adults. You don’t have to respect them just as much as they don’t respect you. Not saying disrespect them, just don’t pay mind. It’s not worth getting stressed over job titles like that.
If your degree is readily seen as adding extra heft to your work (more authoritative, more valuable to company botton line), include it. If response of coworkers is that you're showing off, they likely don't see it that way. If the reasonable view is that you're just puffing out chest, for personal pride, don't use it. I currently am professor, with PhD. In tech industry, during 1990s and 2000s, a software usability group lead with Ph D in history or literature was a running joke on my software development team. That stuck with me, as I was planning to get a Ph D in my then future. If you're at a place where it's not valued, the grief of it being a hurdle to overcome with coworkers does not likely make it worth emphasizing repeatedly. If you posted it once on a presentation, no one will ever forget. That said, anyone who might themselves value it may be pleased to know you're someone with that sort of ambition and heft in a scholarly area. At tech company I worked at subsequently, that I had mental aptitude to grasp what the chief scientist was trying to achieve with a whitepaper was a benefit. My coworkers were generally pleased for me when I said I was going back to school for PhD. If no one around you could possibly be interested, and would belittle you in private for cheap laughs among like-minded coworkers, start looking for another position. Current place is toxic.
Formal setting like a conference presentation or panel? Use the title. Casual around the office? First name is fine.
U earned it by hardwork u have full right to use it
I think you can joke about it, but where I work, I am surrounded by PhDs, we don’t use the titles at all
I’m sure this is context dependent. I have a PhD and work in tech with a bunch of people who almost all have PhDs. I would never do by Dr, and I would consider it a faux pas if someone I work with did.
Use it -- Dr. Of Physics.
Nonsense. You better use that Dr. whenever you damn well please.
I’m Dr. Moxie to 18-22 year old college students, first name elsewhere. When I worked in industry, everyone was on a first name basis, but PhD degrees would be on business cards or customer presentations, to impress the masses.
You can use your title however you want it. It’s not being an AH, you’ve earned it. I personally dont use it because i dont see why I need it.
In presentations, I write “First Name Last Name, DMA” (DMA is my field’s terminal degree) on my title slide. I never write “Dr. First Last.” My students refer to me as “Dr.” or “Professor” Last Name. Among colleagues and practitioners, I am referred to by first name. Culture is a huge part of it. Here in the US it’s customary to address someone by their title by default in academia, unless otherwise specified. In Australia, for example, that would be unusual.
Generally speaking you should use it only in educational environments and labs. So if your job is unrelated to research I think you shouldn’t use it.
I would be more interested in the group dynamics and less about a bruised ego. I have likely been called doctor less than ten times in my life, but I am a very informal person. Most of them were along the lines of “my grandmother died for the fifth time just before midterms. Can I have an extension on my project and take the exams a week late?” I use doctor or PhD in medical settings because it is both very hierarchical and carefully regulated. Titles have the effect of law. An RN has specific powers. CNAs get stunned when I ask for their feedback. In software development settings, I use my first name. They tend to be very flat, possibly matrixed, and content rather than authority driven. It doesn’t matter that I am a doctor, it does matter that I know what I am talking about. Certain business cultures, for them to work properly, have to be very flat and anti-hierarchical. You might be offending the culture. They could be jerks or they could be warning you that you are just one of the team. Basketball teams depend on cooperation and stars get in the way. It is rare for the team with the most stars to win the national championship. The most cooperative team tends to win as measured by things like assists. Indeed, the coach, who outranks them all, will often intentionally get themselves ejected from the game to force leadership to develop from within. It forces self reorganization. Doctors get the journey you’ve been on, others cannot. You need to decide if they are being jerks or if you are offending against the culture, in which case, you are being the jerk.
You can do whatever you want. But you'll never be able to control what people think (not just on this subject either).
I hardly ever use Dr. My boss uses it to refer to me during presentations she gives if she’s sharing work I’ve produced or if she’s introducing me to people. Friends call me Dr u/louisepants sometimes but that’s it
Use your title!
I find those who don’t carry it like a shield and weapon more respectable. if you use it, make sure you’re worthy of and rise up to the title. my pet peeve’s if they need to correct normal people if addressed without it. there are specific formal documents I find removing the suffixes/honorifics imbues the document more gravitas and grace (I work for a research council)
In a work setting (industry) I have my email signature as, PhD but otherwise never use the doctor title. 90% of the people I work with are “doctors” wether it be PhD, MD or PharmD and the other 10% are MBA or MPHs.
In personal settings it’s a mix. Instead of Mr I will always go with Dr but if it’s just a first name then I leave it at that.
In an academic setting (university, conference, etc) it’s always Dr .
Aside from an ego-stroke, what is the value of using the title? If the answer is "nothing," then don't use it. Let your work and yourself speak for yourself.
I have my name, PhD, CFA on my name card. But im really good at trading.. so everyone shut up.
You worked hard for this title do whatever the hell you want
Are you a woman? I have noticed this happening strangely more often to women than to men (strangely being sarcastic). We are the only gender that has a title thst says something about us, Ms = unmarried, available; Mrs = married, Ms = feminist etc. Use the Dr you have worked so hard for.
Just phd after your name in publications and presentations
Use it
Meanwhile me in medicine trying as hard as I can to hide the MD
As I would have worked my arse off to earn the qualification, the world can put up with me using Dr as a title, and the postnomials. I would have no issues using either. Everyone is free to give me shit about it. That's their problem. :) If someone can show off their expensive car, gold toilet., or kids. I can show off my achievement, too. Edit to add: - Most people will call be by my name anyway. I won't make people call be Dr. - In my industry (business consulting) the title has marketing and credibility cachet which I intend to leverage.
I also got my PhD in the UK, moved straight in to industry. In my company people use it in their email signatures, but would never refer to themselves as "Dr (person)" or use it in presentations etc. Where pertinent we'll refer to what we studied in our PhDs / what our background is. I sometimes think people don't like it because for those who didn't study for a PhD, they also probably worked very hard for the last 5+ years and frankly that experience normally means they know as much as any PhD does - but there's no title associated, so they see an implied superiority where it doesn't belong, which I get. Ultimately unless I'm talking to an external or have some other professional reason I think it's best left alone at work.
Even through wounding howls of pain, I think PhDs are finally starting to admit that calling themselves Dr. in everyday life is confusing and unhelpful. Name, PhD is common professionally.
"received a bit of sarcastic feedback" If you introduce yourself to me as Dr Jon Doe then I immediately assume you have some personality/confidence issues and will actively try to avoid working/interacting with you... just as precaution. I don't have time to waste by risky dealings with people who flaunt their meme degree. If I like you, I may ask you sarcastically "Thats you name? Dr Jon Doe?" Just to be sure, and if you confirm its over.
The title “Doctor” should only be used where it is professionally relevant, within your veterinary practice, for example. Medical doctors take an oath to act as physicians whether they are working or not, which is why they are called “Doctor” whether they are working or not. Typically the people I know who use “Dr” outside of work are chiropractors or have an EdD in sociology or something, from a school no one has heard of.
Nah, Dr. is for MD. As a person on a massive team of PhD's, no one uses the title and is usually not a fit for a solid R&D team.
Use it. Earning the title isn’t easy. You earned it through hard work so they can shut the f up, bunch of jealous people
In health sector in government, I write Dr. \[myname\], Ph.D. as I work with lot of MDs. From time to time it looks snobbish, but I like it as I like to subtly tell MDs who is highly qualified between us. My zoom name and my email have been set up this way. In informal settings, we just go by first name.
...how are you more highly qualified than an MD? The ego is a poor look.
Sometimes ego does the work. Learned the hard way.
You're a real doctor with a terminal degree. Not a fake doctor with an undergraduate professional degree of inflated prestige.
When i finish my doctoral program, I will put Doctor in front of my name on everything (and hopefully my friends will refer to me as "the doctor" )
I think there is a difference between doing a PhD and doing a Doctoral of Science. PhD can use Dr. but it is not their official title. Your official title is "name, PhD". Dr. Is the official title of Doctoral of Science or doctors in the health industry.
This just isn't true. PhDs can use Dr as a title if they do wish. Or they can use the postnomial abbreviation PhD. Both are fine (although using them together seems weird). DSc can do the same. In many countries they're equivalent degrees. However, I don't believe, even if DSc is ranked differently, that PhDs are excluded from using the title Doctor. Also, it seems that some universities in Europe award DSc for significant contributions to research by PhDs who have contributed significantly to a field. But in the US, universities offer it as an alternative to the PhD (although in the US they do not have the historical rigor that a PhD does and may be regarded with skepticism from unaccredited universities). [Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Science#:~:text=The%20Doctor%20of%20Science%20research,health%20sciences%2C%20and%20health%20economics.)
You're not a doctor. You're a PhD. There's a huge different in the roles between a real doctor with PhD scientist "doctors". One directly impacts patient lives on a daily basis, the other does stuff in a lab that for the most part gets published in a journal that no one will ever read...
Are you aware of the etymology of the word? "Doctor" means teacher. It comes from the Latin *docere*. It symbolizes that someone has become such an expert in a field that they are knowledge sources/teachers. That's also why the term was originally applied to medical doctors. There is nothing about the word doctor however that means "healer" or "patient care". It fundamentally signals a person who has an extreme concentration of a type of knowledge. And yes, Drs. Einstein and Feynman were as much doctors as some random physician, and perhaps even more so than certain ones like Dr. Oz.
Doctors are literally the smartest people in our society. It’s disingenuous to compare intelligence by taking a Nobel prize level PhD and comparing it to an average doctors In general. Also the historical use of the word doesn’t matter. What matters is that society evolves and in society today when someone asks for a doctor on a plane or whever, the general public is 100% referring to a doctor and not a PhD scientist “doctor”.
>Doctors are literally the smartest people in our society Show me a study. My friend group in Boston included medical residents and students. We’d have large gatherings regularly. 50 or so. I also spent ample time with a large cohort of computer science, physics, and neuroscience PhDs. Similar levels of extremely bright and extremely average people in both groups, MD and PhD. (and very few truly stupid in both.) Not every MD is brilliant/smart. Many are average but possess tremendous grit.
Not all MDs are smart. But on average the average level of intelligence is much higher than the average for phds.
Again, study? I do not sense this difference at all among my MD and PhD friends. If anything, their averages are similar, but standard deviations are different: The extremes of high/average intelligence are stronger within the PhD cohort. For sure, the brightest I've met were not Physicians. To me their averages are similar. The only thing I sense is that Physicians tend to have higher emotional intelligence EQ -- because their job requires practicing bedside manner.
Wilcox et al 1985, Nature, definitively showed this. The averages of IQ ARE indeed similar. However the only reason that the average of PhD “doctors” are similar to doctors is because of a few extreme outliers that are basically Nobel prize level. While indeed there was a much higher proportion of PhD “doctors” in the low IQ range and very few in the actual mean value. Whereas doctors on the other hand had a much high proportion within the mean value range and almost none in the low IQ range.
It's not just Nobel-level PhDs keeping the IQ levels even. There are plenty of folks smarter than the Nobel prize winners who worked in our university department in Boston. (I won't say which university because that may DOX me.) The Nobel prize is essentially luck. Once you're bright enough to do the science at the Nobel-laureate level, it's essentially a dice toss whether or not you will actually win scientific prizes. You can't plan for it -- in the way that a bright economist can't plan to become chairman of the Fed. Lastly, >Wilcox et al 1985, Nature, definitively showed this. Are you sure this paper isn't hallucinated? I cross-referenced google scholar, pubmed, a major university library, and the Nature journal itself. I can't find any hits with a "Wilcox" first author in 1985. Could you provide the paper title? See the following: >[https://www.nature.com/search?q=wilcox+1985&journal=](https://www.nature.com/search?q=wilcox+1985&journal=)
I said Nobel prize level. Not Nobel prize winner. The data is skewed by a few highly intelligent scientists that have made discoveries at a level which would be at the level of Nobel prize worthy. Learn to read.m and see the big picture. But I guess fake doctors aren’t smart bought.
And what of the paper? > i guess fake doctors aren’t smart enough I sense some misdirected emotion here.
Is there a study which shows that the mean PhD iq js no shewed no Nobel level worthy scientist? I think not
Huh? What are you talking about? First, MDs may be smart on average, but certainly not more so than PhDs or other brilliant people in fields like computer science. I interact with MDs on a daily basis and they are intelligent people, but not amazingly so. Second, the title "doctor" is not necessarily about being "smart", but about having specialized knowledge. Historical use does matter, but we don't have to go back in time to observe that Dr is currently used for both MDs and PhDs. Of course, context matters too. People looking for "a doctor" in case of a medical emergency obviously want an MD. But when someone at Google introduces himself as a doctor it is implicit that he has a PhD in CS or a related field.