Most valuable skills to secure high quality clinical research during medical school?

[Asi212]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of applying to medical school as well as a summer medical research program that I hope to participate in next summer before starting school (assuming I'm accepted this cycle [LizzyM score of 77]).

There are a variety of different groups I could work in, and I'm supposed to rank them in order of interest. I plan on speaking to the project mentors of the groups I am most interested in before finalizing my application.

Anyway, I did a few years of basic science research in undergrad (sadly without publications), and I'm relatively clueless when it comes to clinical research and research in medical school in general. I believe the chances of a publication from this summer program are slim, so I want to use this time building skills that will make me more attractive as a researcher in medical school. I hope to be a competitive applicant for competitive residencies in a few years from now, so I'd like to build skills/knowledge that will give me the opportunity to work on quality clinical research in medical school that will lead to publications. What responsibilities/types of work/etc should I look for specifically when evaluating which group will be best for advancing myself as a researcher and future residency applicant? Any advice is appreciated.


Thanks

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[Goro]

I strongly suggest picking the areas that are most interesting to you. Why work on, say, transcription factors, if it will bore the living piss out of you??

When you say "quality clinical research", what exactly are you talking about? High need, like dementia, diabetes, cancer or other chronic illnesses?

Or high impact factor journals to publish in? This will be 100% dependent upon the importance of your data.

Or sheer number of publications?

Or the bench techniques you'll learn, like qPCR vs HPLC vs westerns???

Other things to consider will be the productivity of the group, and how nice a working environment they have.

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of applying to medical school as well as a summer medical research program that I hope to participate in next summer before starting school (assuming I'm accepted this cycle [LizzyM score of 77]).

There are a variety of different groups I could work in, and I'm supposed to rank them in order of interest. I plan on speaking to the project mentors of the groups I am most interested in before finalizing my application.

Anyway, I did a few years of basic science research in undergrad (sadly without publications), and I'm relatively clueless when it comes to clinical research and research in medical school in general. I believe the chances of a publication from this summer program are slim, so I want to use this time building skills that will make me more attractive as a researcher in medical school. I hope to be a competitive applicant for competitive residencies in a few years from now, so I'd like to build skills/knowledge that will give me the opportunity to work on quality clinical research in medical school that will lead to publications. What responsibilities/types of work/etc should I look for specifically when evaluating which group will be best for advancing myself as a researcher and future residency applicant? Any advice is appreciated.


Thanks

 

[whatTREEisTHAT?]

Do residency PDs only care about research and publications completed during medical or do they also value previous work?

 

[Lost in Translation]

From what I've heard, only med school. Thought if your UG work got your name in a MAJOR journal then I guess it wouldn't hurt to add that. But I'm pretty sure PDs don't care about arabidopsis or drosophila.

 

[Asi212]

Thanks for the reply. Your questions are helping me think about what I'm trying to ask. None of the opportunities are in fields I am interested in, sadly.

Because of my engineering background, I'm ruling out most bench research since the other applicants are likely much more experienced with molecular biology techniques. My strengths relative to other applicants may be critical thinking, technical writing, and interpersonal skills.

I suppose by "quality clinical research" in medical school, I'm looking for a role on an important/respected project in an area that I'm interested in that will ultimately end in a publication. Thus far I have 0 publications, so looking at the average number of publications for applicants applying to competitive residencies looks pretty daunting to me.

So assuming I would only like to be involved with clinical research going forward, and that my goal is to be able to quickly and significantly contribute (relatively speaking) to a clinical research project in medical school, what skills should I be building and what should I be familiarizing myself with?

Do you think an opportunity entailing a significant amount of technical writing, including writing IRB abstracts, may be what I am looking for?

I strongly suggest picking the areas that are most interesting to you. Why work on, say, transcription factors, if it will bore the living piss out of you??

When you say "quality clinical research", what exactly are you talking about? High need, like dementia, diabetes, cancer or other chronic illnesses?

Or high impact factor journals to publish in? This will be 100% dependent upon the importance of your data.

Or sheer number of publications?

Or the bench techniques you'll learn, like qPCR vs HPLC vs westerns???

Other things to consider will be the productivity of the group, and how nice a working environment they have.

 

[efle]

Do residency PDs only care about research and publications completed during medical or do they also value previous work?

Pubs from college still belong on your resume

OP, my understanding thus far is that the research most medical students do is retrospective chart reviewing stuff, though there is a minority that sticks with basic science or finds some kind of prospective trials/studies to work on. What to look for during the summer really depends on what you want to do in med school.

It is also worth considering the fields you might be interested in, since I've gathered the norm for people interested in competitive residencies is to do research related to that area starting as early as possible.

When you see people applying to residencies with multiple pubs, don't think of them like you would basic science pubs. Much more likely they spent a summer trawling through EMRs looking to identify significant risk factors for complication XYZ, that kind of thing.

 

[Goro]

Unfortunately, this doesn't really help you with landing a project.

Because of my engineering background, I'm ruling out most bench research since the other applicants are likely much more experienced with molecular biology techniques. My strengths relative to other applicants may be critical thinking, technical writing, and interpersonal skills.

Well, you have to DO something. I'm thinking about what my clinical colleagues would say if you walked in their offices and asked for a project like you have here. I don't think that you'd get much love from them.
I suppose by "quality clinical research" in medical school, I'm looking for a role on an important/respected project in an area that I'm interested in that will ultimately end in a publication. Thus far I have 0 publications, so looking at the average number of publications for applicants applying to competitive residencies looks pretty daunting to me.

Like efle suggests, there's always data mining.

So assuming I would only like to be involved with clinical research going forward, and that my goal is to be able to quickly and significantly contribute (relatively speaking) to a clinical research project in medical school, what skills should I be building and what should I be familiarizing myself with?

No. That won't land you a publication. To get your name on a paper, you have to make an intellectual contribution. Mere writing gets you an acknowledgement for "expert secretarial assistance."

Do you think an opportunity entailing a significant amount of technical writing, including writing IRB abstracts, may be what I am looking for?

 

[Goro]

My understanding from our wise SDN residents and attendings is that it's what you publish in med school that counts. Where's @mimelim when you need him????

Do residency PDs only care about research and publications completed during medical or do they also value previous work?

 

[sallyhasanidea]

My understanding from our wise SDN residents and attendings is that it's what you publish in med school that counts. Where's @mimelin when you need him????

A publication is a publication is a publication (as long as it's on pubmed)

 

[aalamruad]

My understanding from our wise SDN residents and attendings is that it's what you publish in med school that counts. Where's @mimelin when you need him????

Any idea what is thought of research that's submitted for publication a couple months before starting med school? I'd assume that would be considered by PDs

(also you spelled mimelim's name wrong, so he won't get the notification)