any research options?

[miki]

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hi people,

as if the course load of med school isnt hard already, i have been told several times that it would really help ( for residency and job interviews) if i did some kind of research paper, research project, or some kind of research with a doctor...easier said then done....i have no idea how to go about it...any ideas or suggestions would be helpful

thanks

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

if you have an idea what type of specialty you are interested in, then doing research in that particular field would be an advantage. however, i think it'll help your c.v. by having research experience and papers in any field.
i'd say go surfing on the net for the research descriptions at the p.i's at your university. write down some names of some labs that sound interesting to you. then i'd probably email them, expressing your interest and maybe you can meet them in person and see what goes from there.
i think alot of p.i.'s may want you to commit a certain number of hours to the lab, while others may not at all. and most will expect that you'll be on as a volunteer basis.


nuclearrabbit

northwestern - 2006

 

[cmz]

There are several options. Right now I am in the midst of sending my application out to be considered as a Howard Hughes research fellow for the coming year, 2003. You get a years worth of research done and a bunch of clinical exposure as well. It's not just bench work - or at least, it shouldn't be 🙂 The grant/fellowship is under the guise of "Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students Application". I'd recommend browsing around the hhmi.org site and see what you come up with. If your school has a graduate department, speak with them. Talk to some PIs around school as well. You really have to find out what you're intereted in - subject-wise. Then it would be very helpful to pare down your list of potential mentors based on what sort of research they do. How much time will you spend with them one on one. What sort of exposure will you get? Those are some things to think about. PM me if you want to know more, etc.

 

[Harry Truman]

You might want to check out www.training.nih.gov for research training opportunities at NIH. They have various programs for medical students.

 

[S.c. Cdc28p]

I think you should just email the PIs directly. Most of them are quite receptive to having med students working in the lab. Here's what I did a few weeks ago:

1. Identified a few research areas that I would be interested in and then searched the website of the appropriate departments/hospitals/institutitions for info on the labs.
2. Emailed the PIs to express my interest in joining their labs.
3. Heard back from some of them and then scheduled meetings with them.
4. Read their papers before the meeting.
5. Found out more about their work at the meeting. Asked them what they were expecting from me. Told them how much time I would be able to commit.

I'm now deciding which lab I should join. Tough but fun decision to make. Don't worry too much about fellowship or fundings for now. Just get your research rolling, and then it'll be easier to apply for the Howard Hughes later on, for example.

Good luck.

 

[Curci]

I hope you don't mind. 🙂

For those of you who have done research in med school, what is it like? I just started doing research now (I'm a senior in college), and at first I was very excited about it, but now I realize what a BORE it really is. It's like make media, pipet stuff, plate bacteria, rinse and repeat a hundred odd times. I'll be entering med school in 2003, and I'm interested in doing research, but only if it's going to be a little more interesting and engaging. What are the kinds of things you get to work on? What about clinical research? That's the kind that I would really like to do, but do you get much of a chance to do that in med school? And, as far as applying for residencies go, does clinical research "look as good" as the bench work? Thanks for your help!

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by Curci
I hope you don't mind. 🙂

For those of you who have done research in med school, what is it like? I just started doing research now (I'm a senior in college), and at first I was very excited about it, but now I realize what a BORE it really is. It's like make media, pipet stuff, plate bacteria, rinse and repeat a hundred odd times. I'll be entering med school in 2003, and I'm interested in doing research, but only if it's going to be a little more interesting and engaging. What are the kinds of things you get to work on? What about clinical research? That's the kind that I would really like to do, but do you get much of a chance to do that in med school? And, as far as applying for residencies go, does clinical research "look as good" as the bench work? Thanks for your help!

I too am curious about how clinical research looks compared to bench work.

 

[14931]

what does PI mean?

 

[Adcadet]

PI=Primary Investiagor. He/she is the one who got the grant to fund the research. Basically, he/she is the big boss.

 

[zpdoc]

Hey guys. I'm living at the NIH now doing one of those HHMI-NIH Research Fellowships.
The downside is that it adds an extra year to school. But there are many many upsides: You get to choose any investigator to work with in any field; you are here for a year, so you actually have a decent chance of getting a good, publishable piece of work done (unlike most summer projects); the living situation is great - nice, fully furnished apartments on the very beautiful NIH campus, five minute walk from where you will work; they pay you a decent amount, which considering that rent is very heavily subsidized and insurance is covered means you can actually save a decent amount;
So, if you're getting burned out by med school, this is a great way to have a nice healing year to recuperate (work ~8hrs/day, so you have evenings, weekends, holidays completely free), while at the same time getting valuable research done. The Howard Hughes name looks great, as Howard Huges investigators are considered to be the top researchers in their fields. Every monday night, we have a seminar given by a highly accomplished investigator along with a fully catered dinner.
Ok, I'll stop plugging my program. But if anyone has any questions about it, feel free to ask.

 

[alina_s]

zpdoc-
What kind/how much research experience did you have when you applied to the HHMI program? I am looking at it for next year and have no idea how competitive I might be. The requirement of a letter from faculty at medical school is a problem for me, because my only experience while in med school was outside of the school. I am a bit intimidated by the application; while they say that experience isn't required, the form leaves lots of room for descriptions of experience and publications. Do they really admit anyone who isn't already highly experienced and deeply committed to a particular field? And is it really worth the extra year- do you think that you will get publications out of it and otherwise add to your CV enough to make it worthwhile? Sorry for taking this away from the original topic.

 

[14931]

Adcadet always to the rescue 🙂 i thot they called those people advisors? , uhmmm, well thanks!

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by immediatespring
Adcadet always to the rescue 🙂 i thot they called those people advisors? , uhmmm, well thanks!

Uh, thanks. I think. Just trying to help out a fellow SDNer.

 

[zpdoc]

Alina,

There are definitely people in the program who had no research experience before. The original purpose of the program was to try to get more MD's interested in pursuing research, because they have a different perspective on problems than PhD's. It is true that having some research experience is probably beneficial, but if you seem like you are genuinely interested in research, and it is an option you want to consider in your career, you will have a good shot, and should try to apply.

Is the program worth it? Well, you have the freedom to choose any lab to work in, so you can in a large degree determine what you get out of the program. If you are interested in getting a first author publication, you can pick a lab with a good publication record (you can also find out which labs students have choosen in the past, and do a pubmed search to see what publications they got out of the labs - there are a few labs where more than one student has gotten a first author Science paper!). You will have an advisor when you start the program, and they can help you find a lab which suits your goals.

You can apply after either your second or third year. I applied after my second year, but now I'm kind of wishing I had gone after my third year, for several reasons 1) I haven't decided which field I want to go into, so choosing a lab was hard. 2) I'm thinking it's going to be hard to go back and do a whole year of rotations - I'd rather be going back with only 4th year to worry about 😉
Still though, I expect to get a publication out of the work I'm doing (although it probably won't be in a super high-impact journal). The experience has been great so far, I've met a lot of famous researchers, and I'm having a blast living here, so I definitely think its worth it. Also, ask some professors at your school what they think of the program. I have heard different things, but a lot of people here seem to be convinced that people think pretty highly of students who have done the program...

One more thing: every year, 4-6 students in the program receive a scholarship which pays for the rest of their medical school education plus a stipend to live on. Considering that there are only about 42 people in the program/year, everyone has a good shot.