How much/ which type of research should I do in Medical school?

[Tiran145]

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Hi all,

During undergrad I didn’t live basic science bench research. It was not terrible but not something I am super interested in lots of pipetting and so forth. Are their other ways to get involved in research and hopefully get punished other than bench research in medical school and how does one find these?

 

[Moko]

During undergrad I didn’t live basic science bench research. It was not terrible but not something I am super interested in lots of pipetting and so forth. Are their other ways to get involved in research and hopefully get punished other than bench research in medical school and how does one find these?

Clinical research. Figure out which faculty at your school are doing research and reach out to them if their research seems interesting.

The best types of research are those that get published.

 

[7331poas]

depends on the field you want to go into. you dont have to do research

 

[Tiran145]

Clinical research. Figure out which faculty at your school are doing research and reach out to them if their research seems interesting.

The best types of research are those that get published.

I am interested in both surgery and anesthesia. For reference I will be attending a US MD.

 

[Tiran145]

I am interested in both surgery and anesthesia. For reference I will be attending a US MD.

Thank you for the comment! I will look into clinical research!

 

[Tiran145]

You can also do community-based/public health research if that's your jam, but I'm guessing clinical would be a better fit for you if you're interested in surgery and anesthesia (maybe see if there are some surgical critical care opportunities - that would check both boxes?). I personally did not care for doing bench research at all but enjoyed the community research projects I did during med school. Way more fun to be actually talking to humans than pipetting for 6 hrs lol.

Thanks for the suggestion! I agree with you.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

A physician mentor of mine explained a strategy that I really like.

Have a project of passion, this can be benchwork, clinical, whatever. Do it because you are genuinely interested and do it without expectations of publication (at least at first).

Additionally, take on smaller projects with defined timelines and publishing goals that you can contribute to and get published.

In an ideal world, by the time you graduate, you will have worked longitudinally on a project you can talk about with enthusiasm and have a handful of other publications padding your app/CV.

Disclosure: I am not a fan of the unspoken research requirements. I wish it wasn't the way it is but nobody wants to be the only person graduating with a blank research section of ERAS/CV. Such is life 🙁