I'd like to do some reseach - how do I go about it?

[prettypea]

So I would really really like to do some research - I'm not too fussy as to what area of medicine - but am not really sure about how to go about it? There's a list of PhD students and master's students and a bunch of professors - now how would I go about approaching them? I'm a first year med student but we keep hearing how people are really desperate to get med students involved in research early on in their education. Any ideas or tips on how to do this? Any of you out there who are currently doing medicine with research on the side?
Many thanks, Pea.

 

[Dr-Idiopathic]

what kind of research are you welling to do?
community based or some thing purely scientific?
Im a first year med student and I have already done a community based reseach although i didnt like to waste my time on it but I just resorted to it for the sake of participation in a local conference. Now I'd like to do something more related to medicine to participate in the next conference.

 

[tofurious]

There are two types of projects for you: a full time summer project or a long term part-time (or much less than half-time) project. For a summer project, it might not hurt to go to another institution other than your own to check out the place and learn something you otherwise wouldn't. It also gets your foot in the door if you want to go to this place for residency. Many hospitals host visiting students like this. Otherwise, for a part-time project at your home institution, most research-based medical school faculty have a list of long term and short term projects available waiting for people to take charge. The easiest starting point would be to ask the people who have matched into the residencies you are interested in with whom they did their research. It's easier to pick up something that's semi-established than to start from scratch, and you can get a feel of how it is to work with the particular faculty from that senior med student.

 

[nutmegs]

I just went to the department chair of where I was interested in working, and he hooked me up. Much easier than I thought. Know some about the research that's already going on in that dept (look the PIs up on pubmed)

 

[pikachu]

It's much easier than you think. Lots of premedical students are "afraid" that the attendings will be mean when they ask to do research. The truth is, that when an attending sponsors your research, he/she will get a citation on the paper you publish, whether or not they do any actual work on the paper. So you're in a win-win situation when you ask an attending for a research project -- both of you get a citation. So ask, already!

If you're interested in cancer research, talk to a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, or surgeon. Cardiology -- talk to someone in cardiac surgery, physiology, or cardiology. Someone will surely have a project which needs some extra manpower.