Should research in med school align with intended specialty?

[Medshpep2021]

Hi, I'm an M1 at a lower-mid tier MD school that does not have a lot of research going on in all specialties and while I am still unclear what I'm interested in, I have been most interested in medium- competitive fields such as anesthesiology, EM but have also been occasionally thinking of going into fields such as ortho or ENT. I originally found an ENT doc at my school who agreed to mentor me for research for the summer, but he recently indicated that due to personal reasons, he was looking to terminate his research and focus more clinically.

So I emailed a bunch of professors and MDs last week at my school again for summer research (but as there is not a lot of clinical research going on and since it is March, most professors have already found students, and all the PIs who I emailed in anesthesiology, ortho, ENT either already have students, or are not taking any. Then I reached out to my school for summer research and got paired up with a nephrology professor who really was dedicated to students and offered me this cool project on dialysis. He said the project has great potential to be published/presented at a national conference provided that I can dedicate several hours a week M2 and M3 years in addition to this summer (he'd give me time off rotations for shelves and step dedicated ofc). Hed also be mentoring me to write a first person publication if I do put in the work (one of the M3s he's mentoring just got a 1st author pub accepted in a midimpact journal) and if the my project is successful, that'd happen as well. He said he'd give me a week to decide.. Right now, I am leaning towards accepting but was also wondering if I do solely nephrology research for med school, how would that look if I were to apply to ENT or even anesthesia/EM? There are also other institutions/hospitals outside my school further away that I'd be able to commute to daily in the summer, but no way with a busy M2 schedule and step in the fall. I could try reaching out to those departments for research, but would it be necessary? Regardless of whether it's ENT, ortho, anesthesia, EM, or even primary care fields that I am interested in, I just want to match to the best program I can and while the nephrology project sounds cool, I don't think I'd be interested enough to ever go into nephrology and am wondering what program directors would think when they see that my research doesn't align with what I'm applying for, especially with step I pass fail and research/school prestige becoming all the more important.

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[Dr Meow]

Nope doesn't need to match
edit: To specify for less competitive specialties.

 

[Browns99]

Hi, I'm an M1 at a lower-mid tier MD school that does not have a lot of research going on in all specialties and while I am still unclear what I'm interested in, I have been most interested in medium- competitive fields such as anesthesiology, EM but have also been occasionally thinking of going into fields such as ortho or ENT. I originally found an ENT doc at my school who agreed to mentor me for research for the summer, but he recently indicated that due to personal reasons, he was looking to terminate his research and focus more clinically.

So I emailed a bunch of professors and MDs last week at my school again for summer research (but as there is not a lot of clinical research going on and since it is March, most professors have already found students, and all the PIs who I emailed in anesthesiology, ortho, ENT either already have students, or are not taking any. Then I reached out to my school for summer research and got paired up with a nephrology professor who really was dedicated to students and offered me this cool project on dialysis. He said the project has great potential to be published/presented at a national conference provided that I can dedicate several hours a week M2 and M3 years in addition to this summer (he'd give me time off rotations for shelves and step dedicated ofc). Hed also be mentoring me to write a first person publication if I do put in the work (one of the M3s he's mentoring just got a 1st author pub accepted in a midimpact journal) and if the my project is successful, that'd happen as well. He said he'd give me a week to decide.. Right now, I am leaning towards accepting but was also wondering if I do solely nephrology research for med school, how would that look if I were to apply to ENT or even anesthesia/EM? There are also other institutions/hospitals outside my school further away that I'd be able to commute to daily in the summer, but no way with a busy M2 schedule and step in the fall. I could try reaching out to those departments for research, but would it be necessary? Regardless of whether it's ENT, ortho, anesthesia, EM, or even primary care fields that I am interested in, I just want to match to the best program I can and while the nephrology project sounds cool, I don't think I'd be interested enough to ever go into nephrology and am wondering what program directors would think when they see that my research doesn't align with what I'm applying for, especially with step I pass fail and research/school prestige becoming all the more important.

Research is always going to be worthwhile and 1st author pubs are important, regardless of what field they are in. With that said, at some point, if you are interested in the highly competitive fields (NSG, integrated plastics, possibly URO, etc.) you are going to need research in that respective field. Since you are a M1, I would not worry about what research field you are in right now unless you are totally committed to one specific field, ENT?...The fact that you are interested in research is key and will later show that.

 

[GoSpursGo]

So, you're asking separate questions here. In general, no your research doesn't have to align with your intended specialty. For EM or anesthesia, having any sort of first author publication is going to be notable and show that you have what it takes to be academically productive even if you didn't know exactly what you wanted to do at the time. Also true for IM, which would allow you a number of fellowship opportunities afterward. And regardless, having a strong mentor who is clearly interested in your career development is going to be very beneficial to you regardless of what field you decide to enter.

However, for a competitive specialty like ortho or ENT, you're eventually going to need to commit to research within that field. If you ultimately decide to go that route, you're not going to have multiple hours per week to devote to a project in an unrelated field, particularly because as you note you won't have the chance to stand out with your Step 1 score.

My general recommendation is that if you are truly considering multiple specialties to go ahead and take this opportunity but be willing to back out if you wind up deciding to aim for one of these uber competitive specialties. And if you really do think you're going to do a surgical subspecialty, you really do need to find a mentor for that ASAP.

 

[Redpancreas]

Exactly as above. My first inclination is to say research is messy/struggle and the earlier you learn to write and play the game, the better you get at it overall. That said, I’m not sure what extent you are committed to a surgical subspecialty but post-M1, you need to get serious about it and find ways to publish in that specialty. If this opportunity detracts from that, I’d drop it.

If on the other hand, ENT/Ortho, etc are afterthoughts for you, you’re probably not going to go into them with the new Step exam being Step 2 at which point it will be too late in the game to pursue research for a field if your exam results come back good.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

Published research in the field > Published research in another field > research experiences > No Experience

As others have said you get more leeway if the specialty is less competitive. Just about any research will fly for Gen Surg/Radiology/IM/etc.

 

[dienekes88]

Published research in the field > Published research in another field > research experiences > No Experience

As others have said you get more leeway if the specialty is less competitive. Just about any research will fly for Gen Surg/Radiology/IM/etc.

100% agree

Just wanted to add that it is also about quality.

Manuscripts >> abstracts/presentations at meetings

1st author >> 2nd author > middle author.

Book chapters go in a different part of your CV.

 

[aldol16]

It's all a spectrum. Research in field you're applying in > research in unrelated field >> no research. Research isn't the end all be all but it's another component of your app that you'll want to have at least some experience in. If you're interested in, say, ENT, you should try to find research in ENT that's doable for you. That doesn't mean you should go commuting 2 hours both ways to do some research. There are plenty of ways to get involved that aren't basic science and don't require you to physically be on site, i.e., clinical research.

 

[Browns99]

It's all a spectrum. Research in field you're applying in > research in unrelated field >> no research. Research isn't the end all be all but it's another component of your app that you'll want to have at least some experience in. If you're interested in, say, ENT, you should try to find research in ENT that's doable for you. That doesn't mean you should go commuting 2 hours both ways to do some research. There are plenty of ways to get involved that aren't basic science and don't require you to physically be on site, i.e., clinical research.

The only thing I would say is that, merely doing some type of research in your chosen speciality is good, but why not make full use of the time you plan on doing it. "Doable" is ok, but sometimes we have to go past that, like securing research with someone that is well-respected in the speciality field you plan on going into, even if it means "driving 2 hours both ways." Remember, these uber competitive specialities ( ENT probably fits in that category, not anesthesology) are small and having a strong LOR from your research mentor could be invaluable, if she/he is well known.

 

[Medshpep2021]

Thanks for all the feedback! I decided to go with the project!

 

[aldol16]

The only thing I would say is that, merely doing some type of research in your chosen speciality is good, but why not make full use of the time you plan on doing it. "Doable" is ok, but sometimes we have to go past that, like securing research with someone that is well-respected in the speciality field you plan on going into, even if it means "driving 2 hours both ways." Remember, these uber competitive specialities ( ENT probably fits in that category, not anesthesology) are small and having a strong LOR from your research mentor could be invaluable, if she/he is well known.

Agree that who writes your letters is just as important as what is in those letters. Obviously would be best to have great letter from well-known person. However, I still believe that whether a 2 hour commute both ways would be worth it is a personal decision for the OP to make. There are other ways to get connected and match into these competitive specialties.