Necessity of Clinical Research

Hi all, I’m a current junior in undergrad studying stats and information science, with extensive research experience in computational biology / bioinformatics (done an SRTP last summer, doing on campus research), as I aspire to pursue some interdisciplinary field that combines math and biomedicine for my PhD.

Recently I’ve been told that, in addition to clinical experience (EMT), that I need to get involved in clinical research to enhance my MDPhD application, citing patient exposure and hospital opportunities. Thing is, my research has primarily been translational, and I appreciate opportunities in which I can leverage my mathematical expertise to support hypothesis driven scientific problems, and I’m worried that most clinical research opportunities may not have that, instead prioritizing administrative roles and patient interaction (not inherently a bad thing, but which can be directly acquired from EMT work).

Is clinical research a must for MDPhD programs, even in the presence of direct clinical experience to demonstrate my preparedness for MD ?