Radonc research this fall

[DocSqd]

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Hello everyone,
First I wanted to thank the regular contributors here, this has been a very useful resource for me as I prepare to apply this year. I have just completed my home department rotation and loved it. I have been given the opportunity to get involved in several research projects, and I have been trying to figure out how to best prioritize them for the application process. One is a case report on a pretty uncommon condition and an interesting indication for radiation therapy that I have a decent chance of submitting before Oct 1st. The next is a retrospective study on toxicity in cervical cancer patients treated with radiation, possibly ready to submit December/January. There are two other projects that are in the early stgages regarding collaborating with radiology in developing novel approaches in image guided therapy for lung cancer. Would probably still be dealing with the IRB come January. Finally I am doing some bench work with prostate cancer cells and a novel therapeutic I characterized during my PhD, looking for synergy with radiotherapy. I could have an abstract/poster submitted by October. I will likely spend the rest of my fourth year working on all of these in some way, but I'm not sure if there is any advantage to doing small completable projects versus just being widely engaged in research efforts. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Sorry for the lengthy post.

 

[Gfunk6]

Do small project that you can complete. A single abstract, oral presentation or publication is worth a whole lot more than a bunch of unpublished, unrecognized research. Since you already have a PhD, I would focus on research that is more specific to Rad Onc as that would be highest yield.

 

[Paxinos]

I agree to focus more on a project with Rad Onc research. I did basic science (non-oncology related) for my PhD, and a small Rad Onc (not published) chart review during one of my away rotations. If you have a solid number of publications from your PhD work, that should get you interviews. And having a project related to radiation oncology, even if it isn't published, will help you during interviews as something to talk about. Even research projects that aren't published can still be listed on ERAS.

 

[DocSqd]

Thanks for the advice. My doctorate was in cancer biology and produced one pretty good first author paper, another submitted, and hopefully one more some point in the next year. My pre-med school research was also in cancer research and produced a paper that I am also an author on. I'm hoping to make real progress on these projects, but hope having started them paired with the rest of my research background will be good enough. Thanks again.