Currently an MS1, thinking about starting research next semester and continuing this summer. Before start med school, I worked with a professor at my current med school for two years as a technician and managed to get a paper published. He's a great PI, and I definitely enjoy the research topic. Is there any benefit of finding a new lab for my medical school research, or would it be better to continue working in my old PI's lab? The main trade off in my mind is greater exposure to other topics in a new lab versus more efficient work in the old lab (less of a learning curve).
Picking a research PI during medical school
- Thread starter sam2012
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2017
- Messages
- 2,961
- Reaction score
- 6,406
Is the research with the old PI in a field that might be relevant to your future specialty? Is there a different topic you actually want to explore? Are other labs more or less productive than the current one? Do the expectations of the work you would need to do seem compatible with a busy med school schedule? Could you balance multiple projects at once?
There's pros and cons to every option but those are some of the things i would consider!
There's pros and cons to every option but those are some of the things i would consider!
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 42,058
- Reaction score
- 26,701
If you are interested in continuing basic science research and it's potentially related to your future specialty, my strong recommendation would be to stay in the same lab. The main reason is that whenever you start a new lab, there's going to be a learning curve where you spend 3-6 months just figuring out the basics of the project and how the lab functions. If you continue with your existing relationship, that learning curve doesn't exist, and as an added plus you already have proof that he will work to include you on papers which is really the main currency from research.
The one caveat that I would point out is that you could probably get more pubs if you did something more clinically oriented. I personally think a successful lab project is worth several "meh" clinical pubs (ie case reports), but there's always a distinct possibility that lab research could fail or go nowhere. So those are some risks you should consider.
The one caveat that I would point out is that you could probably get more pubs if you did something more clinically oriented. I personally think a successful lab project is worth several "meh" clinical pubs (ie case reports), but there's always a distinct possibility that lab research could fail or go nowhere. So those are some risks you should consider.
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 63,099
- Reaction score
- 154,760
I’d suggest going for clinical research that’s not crappy case reports. Getting support from attendings will help. Basic science is nice but extremely time consuming and unless it’s something like epic neuroscience stuff for something like nsgy, i wouldn’t bother
That said, it also depends on your relationship with your PI. Perhaps continuing this for summer MS1 for another paper can help before switching to clinical research later on
That said, it also depends on your relationship with your PI. Perhaps continuing this for summer MS1 for another paper can help before switching to clinical research later on
