Amount of research needed?

[Jinxapotato]

Hi all!

I'm a Canadian DO who fortunately matched into a mid-tier university program last year. I am almost done with my intern year and I really enjoyed heme & onc (I used to think I'm a cards guy...was totally wrong). Unfortunately we do not have a heme onc fellowship at my program, despite having an affiliated, dedicated cancer hospital.

I have been trying to build up my CV despite busy intern year and so far I have 2 posters, 1 published case, and 1 case that I am writing now. Given the relatively rare heme & onc resource at my program, I was wondering if anyone could guide me in better building my profile.

1) what's the general amount of research that I should be aiming for during my 3 years? Given above avg USMLE, need visa, DO, mid tier university program?
2) who and where should I reach out to in getting more substantial research? I've been trying to rotate in our cancer hospital, but all I've gotten so far are case studies.
3) how do you guys afford the publication costs?! my pub charged me for like 800$ for one publication T.T.....do residents usually have to cover this by themselves if they are the first author? (our program don't have funding for this..)

Thank you so much in advance!! Love to hear from you all!

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[whoknows2012]

Hi all!

I'm a Canadian DO who fortunately matched into a mid-tier university program last year. I am almost done with my intern year and I really enjoyed heme & onc (I used to think I'm a cards guy...was totally wrong). Unfortunately we do not have a heme onc fellowship at my program, despite having an affiliated, dedicated cancer hospital.

I have been trying to build up my CV despite busy intern year and so far I have 2 posters, 1 published case, and 1 case that I am writing now. Given the relatively rare heme & onc resource at my program, I was wondering if anyone could guide me in better building my profile.

1) what's the general amount of research that I should be aiming for during my 3 years? Given above avg USMLE, need visa, DO, mid tier university program?
2) who and where should I reach out to in getting more substantial research? I've been trying to rotate in our cancer hospital, but all I've gotten so far are case studies.
3) how do you guys afford the publication costs?! my pub charged me for like 800$ for one publication T.T.....do residents usually have to cover this by themselves if they are the first author? (our program don't have funding for this..)

Thank you so much in advance!! Love to hear from you all!

1) given your situation, it depends on if you are aiming for a big academic program or smaller/community program. If big academic you definitely want to aim for as much research as possible including one project that is more substantial

2) this is a much tougher question. If there are oncologists at your hospital there must be someone willing to give you a better project. What about other program graduates that have matched hem/Onc in the past? What kind of projects did they work on?

3) I’ve never had to pay for a publication. The senior author usually foots the often small bill when there is one. 800$ also seems very steep...

 

[lulu09]

Hi all!

I'm a Canadian DO who fortunately matched into a mid-tier university program last year. I am almost done with my intern year and I really enjoyed heme & onc (I used to think I'm a cards guy...was totally wrong). Unfortunately we do not have a heme onc fellowship at my program, despite having an affiliated, dedicated cancer hospital.

I have been trying to build up my CV despite busy intern year and so far I have 2 posters, 1 published case, and 1 case that I am writing now. Given the relatively rare heme & onc resource at my program, I was wondering if anyone could guide me in better building my profile.

1) what's the general amount of research that I should be aiming for during my 3 years? Given above avg USMLE, need visa, DO, mid tier university program?
2) who and where should I reach out to in getting more substantial research? I've been trying to rotate in our cancer hospital, but all I've gotten so far are case studies.
3) how do you guys afford the publication costs?! my pub charged me for like 800$ for one publication T.T.....do residents usually have to cover this by themselves if they are the first author? (our program don't have funding for this..)

Thank you so much in advance!! Love to hear from you all!

1) If you keep on the same track as what you're doing now you should be adequately competitive. It would help to have some projects that are not just case reports or posters.
2) Go on the cancer hospital's website and pubmed all of the attendings. See which ones of them are actually doing any research. It might be the case that none of them are, and in that case, it might be more difficult. I think if no one is doing any sort of substantial research you probably still can propose a QI-type project that involves retrospective chart review. Figure out if anyone has had experience doing that at the cancer hospital and talk to them about how to do it.
3) In general, I think no one in academics worth their salt thinks very highly of pay-to-publish open access pubs. Thus, I think paying for the sake of having pubs on the resume is not very worthwhile. You can do it if you want, but I would say don't attach too much significance to the publication then on your CV for apps (sorry, but I think this is the truth). It's much better to try to formulate a better project or to aim for a lower-end non-pay journal to get your article published.

I came from a very resource-poor residency and had to figure out a lot of research on my own. If you look hard enough, there's usually someone to help you, especially at a "mid-tier university hospital." Just reach out to attendings that have done clinical research (at the main hospital if you can't find any that does this at the cancer hospital) and ask them how to go about what they're doing and figure out how to apply it to a heme/onc setting. QI-type projects (looking at some specific intervention and outcome and then going back to the medical record to define your cohorts) are easy conference presentations and if the subject matter is interesting you can probably finagle a publication. Obviously, you can also get involved in a clinical trial or lab-based research but I don't personally advise this for residents unless you have a LOT of time in your 2nd and 3rd years (or do a chief year to get your findings published) because it just takes so much time.

The quantity of research for applications in general is not the key, it's the quality. Having research just to check a box on the CV is fine (you've done that already with the amount you have this year), but if you truly want to go places you need to answer interesting questions, not just write up cases. All the more competitive programs I interviewed at focused all of the interviews on research, and you want to be able to talk about more than just cases.

 

[lessismore123]

1) If you keep on the same track as what you're doing now you should be adequately competitive. It would help to have some projects that are not just case reports or posters.
2) Go on the cancer hospital's website and pubmed all of the attendings. See which ones of them are actually doing any research. It might be the case that none of them are, and in that case, it might be more difficult. I think if no one is doing any sort of substantial research you probably still can propose a QI-type project that involves retrospective chart review. Figure out if anyone has had experience doing that at the cancer hospital and talk to them about how to do it.
3) In general, I think no one in academics worth their salt thinks very highly of pay-to-publish open access pubs. Thus, I think paying for the sake of having pubs on the resume is not very worthwhile. You can do it if you want, but I would say don't attach too much significance to the publication then on your CV for apps (sorry, but I think this is the truth). It's much better to try to formulate a better project or to aim for a lower-end non-pay journal to get your article published.

I came from a very resource-poor residency and had to figure out a lot of research on my own. If you look hard enough, there's usually someone to help you, especially at a "mid-tier university hospital." Just reach out to attendings that have done clinical research (at the main hospital if you can't find any that does this at the cancer hospital) and ask them how to go about what they're doing and figure out how to apply it to a heme/onc setting. QI-type projects (looking at some specific intervention and outcome and then going back to the medical record to define your cohorts) are easy conference presentations and if the subject matter is interesting you can probably finagle a publication. Obviously, you can also get involved in a clinical trial or lab-based research but I don't personally advise this for residents unless you have a LOT of time in your 2nd and 3rd years (or do a chief year to get your findings published) because it just takes so much time.

The quantity of research for applications in general is not the key, it's the quality. Having research just to check a box on the CV is fine (you've done that already with the amount you have this year), but if you truly want to go places you need to answer interesting questions, not just write up cases. All the more competitive programs I interviewed at focused all of the interviews on research, and you want to be able to talk about more than just cases.

Pardon me but I have a barrage of questions. I’m curious about the type of substantial research that can be done as a resident, particularly regarding getting involved in prospective clinical trials, especially because I would like to become a clinical trialist. Would academic hem oncs be willing to involve a resident in clinical trials? If one can somehow tag onto a clinical trial with a mentor, what would it entail on the part of the resident in terms of work contributed? What would be a reasonable amount of credit a resident can receive in the publications resulting from the said trial? Given that the chance of finagling first authorship would probably be extremely low, and the sense of ownership in the research would also low, would pursuing involvement in clinical trials be worth while, if one had the chance?

 

[lulu09]

Pardon me but I have a barrage of questions. I’m curious about the type of substantial research that can be done as a resident, particularly regarding getting involved in prospective clinical trials, especially because I would like to become a clinical trialist. Would academic hem oncs be willing to involve a resident in clinical trials? If one can somehow tag onto a clinical trial with a mentor, what would it entail on the part of the resident in terms of work contributed? What would be a reasonable amount of credit a resident can receive in the publications resulting from the said trial? Given that the chance of finagling first authorship would probably be extremely low, and the sense of ownership in the research would also low, would pursuing involvement in clinical trials be worth while, if one had the chance?

I'm not going to lie. It's difficult to be meaningfully involved in clinical trials as a resident. The primary reason is that most attendings won't let you write a LOI or a draft protocol (why would they? you're not even in heme onc yet, and you might be gone again for a month while you're working 27 hour shifts on MICU). Even if you do, it's not like you'll stick around long enough to write up the trial. I think the best thing you can do if you want to be a clinical trialist is to ask attendings who are big trial researchers whether you can sit in on their weekly trial meetings with the study coordinators. This way, you get to see how trials are run, how patients are accrued, and know what CTCAE stands for. Again, I think in general we are always too caught up about numbers -- the number of pubs, number of presentations, number of abstracts. I think what makes someone memorable at an interview is their ability to discuss research that they care about meaningfully. I think if you can say that you participated significantly in the clinical trial meetings or tagged along with the study coordinator on visits to help enroll patients, that will bolster your case about being a clinical trialist when it comes time for interviews.

You MIGHT be able to snag a minor role helping with data analysis on a preliminary data poster at a conference or something if you really want some form of recognition. However, most multi-center trials there is no way you would be on the list of authors, as most only allot 1-2 slots (fellow, PI) per institution. If there's a smaller IIT from your institution that's in the manuscript-drafting phase and only has a couple of people on it, you might be able to help with some minor part and get your name on the final publication (again, start by going to the meetings!).

I would say if you're interested in being a clinical trialist it would still be to your benefit to be involved in the ways above even if you don't get your name on a pub or a presentation. Otherwise, how do you know that you are really interested in running a clinical trial? You have no idea what you're talking about then when you interview.

But at the end of the day, if you're looking for quick publications, QI-based projects or retrospective chart review are the easiest for a resident to accomplish. Those were the only types of pubs I had when I applied.