Research????

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I want to match into one of the competitive specialties, so research is pretty much a requirement. I have a quick question regarding the type of research needed.

I am an MS1, who is leaning towards ortho, but in my limited experience, I know I have a lot more to learn before deciding on a specialty. This summer, I have the opportunity to do research with two of the most influencial medical researhers in the country. Both have nobel prizes, and they have won almost every award there is. Should I do research with them, and have an excellent opportunity to publish something, or should I find an orthopaedic project?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I want to match into one of the competitive specialties, so research is pretty much a requirement. I have a quick question regarding the type of research needed.

I am an MS1, who is leaning towards ortho, but in my limited experience, I know I have a lot more to learn before deciding on a specialty. This summer, I have the opportunity to do research with two of the most influencial medical researhers in the country. Both have nobel prizes, and they have won almost every award there is. Should I do research with them, and have an excellent opportunity to publish something, or should I find an orthopaedic project?

They have nobel prizes. And your research experience would be limited to a few months in the summer between MS1 and MS2 year? Although the idea is attractive, your nobel prize PI will likely be heading up a big lab and your contact with him/her will be limited. You will likely work one-on-one with a postdoc in the lab and the experience you have will be hit-or-miss because of that. Publications on short-term research projects are never guaranteed. The risk-return ratio may not be optimal if you work in this kind of lab given your interest in ortho and if this lab does research unrelated to ortho.

If I were in your shoes, I would consider working in a small ortho-related research lab that has good projects going. That way you can have more contact with the faculty member/PI/attending and get a solid letter of recommendation out of this, which will be a bonus. And publishing in an ortho journal, if it comes down to that, will strengthen your case when you apply to ortho residencies.

 

[tigershark]

Pick something you can stick with throughout medical school, 1 summer is highly unlikely to yield any meaningful pubs.

 

[Mirror Form]

Pick something you can stick with throughout medical school, 1 summer is highly unlikely to yield any meaningful pubs.

It is nice to get something you can stick with, but is the OP really going to want to be doing research throughout second year? If they just do one summer, they can get involved with something and thereby get their name on the paper that comes out later on. That will be very beneficial for the OP's application.

Plus, the OP can get to know the doctor in charge of the research and get a good letter of recommendation too. Hopefully the doctor will be someone that is well known in ortho.

That said, it's pretty early for anybody to be sure that they want to do ortho during MS1 year. You could always just do the basic science research now so that if you change your mind, your research will still be applicable to the field you apply to.