Question about research to express interest in a specialty

[YamNMangos]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Just wondering, in general, if I was interested in a specialty (ex. IM/GI fellowship), would it be fine if I did research in a GI pathology lab? Would it be more preferred if I did research in an only GI-focused lab, or would residency programs treat both types of research at a similar level of interest for the specialty? I'm mainly considering whether I can expand my research options.

 

[BurghStudent]

Any research is better than no research, and research in your specialty of choice is slightly better than research in another area. In your case, GI pathology research to express interest in GI is as good a match as you can get. I'm biased toward pathology, but that's where the real science happens.

That being said, you also want to be practical. Do research that both allows you to explore your area of interest and has a high probability of resulting in publications and/or presentations. I'm guessing this is basic science research which is fine. But later on, you might want to take on some clinical GI research as that has a higher likelihood of resulting in publication.

And all that being said, PDs know what quality research looks like, so I don't want to give the impression that the number of pubs you have is all that matters. Quality is key.

 

[operaman]

Yeah I think the GI path stuff sounds like a great fit with your interests. Just make sure you talk candidly with your PI about expectations and what you are looking for. You'll want projects that are likely to finish and be ready for publication sooner rather than later. Clarify authorship from the get go on any project you get involved with; if it's someone else's project and you'll be nth author, that may be ok but you should know it in advance. There should be some stuff you can really take ownership of though and be the lead author/investigator. Other times there are bigger ongoing projects that may not result in publication soon, but maybe you can learn a crapload of skills/techniques from and write up an abstract for a conference about some aspect of it.

 

[JJMrK]

Sounds relevant to me. Just do your best to get a publication or two out of it- probably more important than the topic itself.

 

[YamNMangos]

Thanks for the replies!