<p>Lots of good advice here. Terwtt and others are right, PhD is not equal to poor: it depends very much on where you go and what type of degree. I can tell ya, most PhDs I know in several professional fields, including my own, earn 200-300k (why do you think tuition has skyrocketed 
?). Also any position at a research oriented school (likely all the schools you are familiar with, other than LACs) are primarily research, not teaching jobs. </p>
<p>I also agree biomed. ethics and healthy policy are the right areas that may capture your interests. Hot field, increasing number of posts. You won’t be driving a taxi.</p>
<p>If you are interested in getting a PhD to do research, you first and foremost have to choose the area based on what you are really passionate about. Its the only thing that will keep you going. It sounds like you may have found that area.</p>
<p>I too had gotten some majorly lame advice about why I shouldn’t get a PhD from a few professors. In hindsight, I didn’t know enough at the time to realize they were not a good source. Talk to LOTS of professors in lots of areas (esp biomed and policy) to get a better sense of it. You might even work backwards. Find a recent paper you consider really interesting, look up the author and email them. Tell them you loved their work and want to know more about what they do for a living and if you could do it too. I think you’ll find most will help you.</p>