Has anyone taken a research year in medical school?

[knope321]

I am interested in Neurology but haven't had any productive research to date. I talked to an attending in the field and he mentioned how even people in private practice can work with drug companies to do clinical trials. I don't want to debate the ethical quandaries of this approach, I am just using this example to show that in neuro research seems to be really important, possibly more so than other fields.

I was wondering if anyone has had success in taking a research year out in medical school. If so, what kind of research did you do? Was it clinical or basic science?

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[Thama]

Yes. There are several national and a bevy of school-specific opportunities to do a year of funded research, of which I landed one. In that year I did translational animal research (human studies would be much harder to get off the ground in that time frame), published several papers, had talks and posters at international conferences, and set my career on a very different trajectory than if I had gone straight to residency. That said, if you don't actually really want to do research then there's very little pressure to do so, as most neurologists in practice are 100% clinical and only at a handful of residency programs is research considered essential for consideration of an application.

 

[neglect]

I am interested in Neurology but haven't had any productive research to date. I talked to an attending in the field and he mentioned how even people in private practice can work with drug companies to do clinical trials. I don't want to debate the ethical quandaries of this approach, I am just using this example to show that in neuro research seems to be really important, possibly more so than other fields.

I was wondering if anyone has had success in taking a research year out in medical school. If so, what kind of research did you do? Was it clinical or basic science?

Whoa! Ethical quandaries in trying to help develop novel drugs to treat neurologic diseases that maim, disable and kill? Are you joking? Academic sites are generally low enrollers, have higher overheads, and the industry is turning away from them. In private practice, we do real and good work, including getting patients into trials.

As for doing a research year: don’t bother unless this is an opportunity you cannot pass up (like going to the nih). In a year you will not get anything of substance done. Also worth it if you want to just do science and not see patients. But then I’d recommend a PhD.