clinical research experience

[MyOdyssey]

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Hello all

I've led a primarily lab research undergraduate career and my interests currently lie in a medical field that is heavily research and academic medicine driven.

However, I would like more clinical experience and am considering how I might get involved in clinical research (and ideally get published). There are precious few summer clinical research opportunities advertised widely in contrast to numerous wet lab driven summer research opportunities.

For those of you who have succeeded in getting clinical research experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you about how you got your foot in the door and about your experiences. Is it realistic to expect a publication based on less than a year's worth of work in a clinical setting?

For ad com types who read this, is this an acceptable substitute for more traditional clinical experiences like volunteering (which I've done a little) and shadowing (which I've never experienced) for someone who's more MD/PhD or academic medicine driven?

Thanks!

 

[Phile98]

For ad com types who read this, is this an acceptable substitute for more traditional clinical experiences like volunteering (which I've done a little) and shadowing (which I've never experienced) for someone who's more MD/PhD or academic medicine driven?

Absolutely not. Clinical research does NOT substitute for volunteering or shadowing. Seeing that you have little of both, your primary concern is get more of these hours.

 

[gyngyn]

It is important that MD/PhD's understand the nitty gritty of clinical medicine.
The number of them that never uses their PhD is higher than one might guess...
MD/PhD applicants need to show that they possess all the insight and commitment we expect out of regular MD candidates plus the potential to rival the best PhD's.
Research is not a band-aid to cover weakness.

 

[LizzyM]

Clinical research positions are available as full-time employment (and sometimes part-time employment) at academic medical centers. Much of the work involves regulatory paperwork, recruiting, scheduling and consenting subjects and bringing them back for follow-up-- pretty routine stuff that doesn't have much to do with the scientific question. The scientific questions are generally posed by the sponsor whether that is a pharmaceutical company or a consorium with some PI-generated proposals. It would be pretty unusal to waltz in and waltz out with a publication 12 months later. Even if you do the front line data collection (I hired college grads decades ago to collect data in the emergency department) the data collectors were not involved in writing the papers or getting authorship.

You don't need clinical research to get admitted to a PhD/MD program. You do need some exposure to patients seeking health care as one of the most eye opening thing for PhD/MD students who haven't had patient care experience is how much they love it and how much they regret doing the PhD!

 

[Goro]

It is important that MD/PhD's understand the nitty gritty of clinical medicine.
The number of them that never uses their PhD is higher than one might guess...
MD/PhD applicants need to show that they possess all the insight and commitment we expect out of regular MD candidates plus the potential to rival the best PhD's.
Research is not a band-aid to cover weakness.

Both of the MD/PhDs who were fellow grad students of mine are in private practice. One is a pulmonologist in the upper Midwest. Lost track of the other one because he has a very common name.