Email etiquette in regards to emailing doctors about shadowing?

I recently emailed a doctor about possibly shadowing him this summer exactly two weeks ago. He emailed me back the next day saying that he'd love for me to shadow him and asked me what type of ';opportunities'; I was interested in. I replied back saying that (since he's a general surgeon) I'm really interested in observing surgeries, checking out the surgical skills lab, and, most of all, just being able to shadow him and see what he does as a surgeon/doctor. It was a pretty long response thinking about it now I guess. The problem is, he hasn't emailed me back and it's been two weeks. Should I give him more time? Should I email him again? If I do email him again, what do I say? Of course I don't want to be like ';hey so since you didn't email me back....'; but emailing him again after he hasn't replied is, in an essence, saying that without actually saying it. What's the most polite way of asking if he'd still be open to letting me shadow him? I've had this problem with doctors before but it's happened after I've shadowed them a couple times and so they already know me and it's a little bit easier to email them and remind them. I completely understand that doctors are very busy people and I know that if an email is too long sometimes they'll push it aside for later but never go back to it because they forget or something. So, I mean, it's not like I'm angry he hasn't emailed me back. I just think that maybe he needs a reminder?





Also, I don't know if this matters or not, but I don't know this doctor personally. My parents are both computer people and there are no doctors in my family and I wanted to be able to shadow this summer so I randomly picked a doctor at the med school in my home town. I guess I didn't completely pick him randomly as I know, after reading about him, that he often holds one-day classes for high school students showing them around the med school and stuff like. So, I mean, I chose him because I thought I'd have a better chance of actually having him say yes to shadowing.





Anyways, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I'm suppose to approach this problem? I don't want to be annoying but I also don't want to just sit back and do nothing because this is something that I want to do and he seemed really willing when he emailed me back the first time.








Thanks!Email etiquette in regards to emailing doctors about shadowing?
yesEmail etiquette in regards to emailing doctors about shadowing?
Perhaps he has been busy and just forgot to get back with you. Just send a very short to the point e-mail.
email him again. he's probably extremely busy and it has slipped his mind.





i would send something about the dates that you would like to be there or when would you be able to so you can organise to be available. he has already agreed to allow you to shadow him so now it's up to you to organise it. i think that is what he would expect. like i said, he's probably really busy and doesn't have time to organise this but he is happy to do it as long as he doesn't have to organise it.





so just send him an email asking him when you would be able to shadow him so that you can make sure you are available
I think you should email him back and offer your contact number. Something like, ';I just wanted to touchbase with you about mentoring me. I would like to start soon provided your schedule permits. Please feel free to contact me at ###-#### at your convenience.';