dealing with unresponsive "mentor"

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alexagator

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I have a research project with a physician in my desired specialty with whom things started off pretty well. However his responsiveness has declined over the months and because of that my project is stalling BIG TIME. It's been impossible as of late to get in touch with him. I do understand that he is super busy with his physician responsibilities, but my finished data and draft of the manuscript has literally been sitting there for months waiting for him to look at and give his input. He hasn't been replying to any of my emails, but I know he reads them...

I'm at a point where I don't think it's viable to continue working with him, and it's in my best interest to find a new PI if I want to be published. However the specialty I am interested in is really small and tight knit at my institution so surely the current PI will find out, and surely the new PIs that I reach out to might wonder and be suspicious as to why I'm contacting them if I am already on a research project. Any advice on how to handle this situation?
 
I have a research project with a physician in my desired specialty with whom things started off pretty well. However his responsiveness has declined over the months and because of that my project is stalling BIG TIME. It's been impossible as of late to get in touch with him. I do understand that he is super busy with his physician responsibilities, but my finished data and draft of the manuscript has literally been sitting there for months waiting for him to look at and give his input. He hasn't been replying to any of my emails, but I know he reads them...

I'm at a point where I don't think it's viable to continue working with him, and it's in my best interest to find a new PI if I want to be published. However the specialty I am interested in is really small and tight knit at my institution so surely the current PI will find out, and surely the new PIs that I reach out to might wonder and be suspicious as to why I'm contacting them if I am already on a research project. Any advice on how to handle this situation?

i dealt with something very similar. my research mentor who proclaimed "we are going to be cranking out projects left and right", all of a sudden went awol.

screwed me over as i dedicated my summer between m1-m2 to their work and left a big gaping hole in my CV.
 
i dealt with something very similar. my research mentor who proclaimed "we are going to be cranking out projects left and right", all of a sudden went awol.

screwed me over as i dedicated my summer between m1-m2 to their work and left a big gaping hole in my CV.

I'm sorry to hear that. What did you end up doing?
 
i dealt with something very similar. my research mentor who proclaimed "we are going to be cranking out projects left and right", all of a sudden went awol.

screwed me over as i dedicated my summer between m1-m2 to their work and left a big gaping hole in my CV.

Same exact thing is happening to me. I spent my entire summer (over 700 hours) slaving over multiple projects , and they are totally stalled right now. I'm a glutton for punishment though, because I keep going back to this same """"mentor"""" to start new projects from scratch based on "ideas" they have. I wasn't cunning enough to weasel my way into easy ongoing projects like other people. It's such a small department though, that I dare not upset this PI. My plan is to just annihilate Step 1 beyond anyone's wildest dreams , which will hopefully make the faculty members say "Oh yeah , it's that kid who started all those projects with X but never got anything out of it...Geeze, he really stinks at research...but who knew he was an autistic savant? Seems like a nice enough guy too, never complained and always showed his face since M1. Let's take him!" And then my """"mentor"""" will chime in, racked with guilt, and admit that our lack of productivity was actually their fault.

Yeah, I'm pretty delusional.
 
i dealt with something very similar. my research mentor who proclaimed "we are going to be cranking out projects left and right", all of a sudden went awol.

screwed me over as i dedicated my summer between m1-m2 to their work and left a big gaping hole in my CV.

got an abstract and a presentation out of it, but no publication. now i'm scrambling to find research / contemplating take a year off as I'm considering derm or plastics.

This is with a 250+ step 1 btw.
 
I’ve dealt with this as a fellow and resident. If you feel your work is good and you are simply waiting for your mentors approval then just submit to the journal of your choice. The submission process is fairly straightforward. If there are coauthors on the study (it’s quite rare to only have 2 authors) then as has already been mentioned run it by them. Alternatively just “drop by” their office or talk to their admin assistant
 
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