I’m a biomedical research prof at an R1 with a med school. My spouse is a chemistry prof who primarily teaches (we work at different schools). I talk to a lot of undergrads who are deliberating between PhD and MD (please don’t even think about a combined MD/PhD at this point and PM me if you’re considering so I can talk you out of it).
The academic job market is tough, to say the least. It’s not super hard to get a job teaching undergrads, but a lot of primarily undergrad institutions are struggling, and those can be precarious positions these days. Most profs who teach undergrads do love what they do, but the pay and security is highly variable between schools.
As for being a PhD professor leading an academic research lab? Those jobs are very hard to get, and then you have to worry about getting your lab funded with external grants, every year. It never stops. It’s a great gig if you are one of the lucky few who can get the position and get tenured, get grants, etc. I won’t tell someone not to go for it if that’s what they want, but you have to go in with eyes wide open. I have mentees who have gone on to do that successfully, but it’s not an easy or guaranteed path. And the backup options can be really disappointing to some who can’t get the coveted positions.
As you mention, we’re living in, uh… interesting times. Right now pretty much everyone in the academic research world is freaking out. We don’t know how bad things will get nor for how long.
What most people don’t know is that you can have an amazing career in research with an MD. The NIH loves it when MDs apply for research grants. Universities love to hire MDs as research professors because they can do clinic work as a fallback. On average, the pay and job market / security is way better for an MD than a PhD. If you go the MD research route, you’ll have to be proactive about making sure that you get as much research experience as possible, to make up for the lack of traditional PhD training. But it’s certainly do-able.
People have given you good suggestions for exploring clinical work. If you think there’s any chance you might like to be a clinician, don’t rule out med school just yet. Even if you don’t think you want to primarily be a clinician long term, med school could still be the right fit for you.
Being a good doctor AND being a good researcher both are a lot about solving problems. If you’re curious and like science, that’s a good sign. Don’t worry about the memorizing too much.
Honestly, if I had it to do over again, I think I’d become an MD (perhaps specializing in radiology or pathology), and would have still gone into research. Medical research is a huge interdisciplinary field, and people from all backgrounds work on this stuff. My floor in my biomedical research building has biologists, chemists, MDs, veterinarians, engineers, physicists, programmers, etc, all working together to solve interesting problems.
If you want to do research, either degree can definitely get you there. Which one is best for you is going to depend on a lot of specific factors. You don’t need to worry about deciding quite yet, but I encourage you not to shut the door on med school.
You’re doing a great job thinking about all this stuff so early, so you’re way ahead of the game. You might also consider doing some research in a biochem lab and/or with a physician scientist to see how you like it.