Here's the truth: you won't use your research in your medical career. Even if your research is cancer, you're probably studying a super niche protein that is one of thousands that can lead to cancer and it wouldn't be any use to you in your career, even if you were an oncologist. The goal of research is to show you can apply what you learned in the classroom to the real world.
The only way I can see your research being properly utilized in your medical career is if you're doing a clinical informatics (CI) research project. To those who don't know, CI is a new field that blends data science and medicine; any physician can pursue a fellowship in CI, regardless of their residency; they just need to finish a residency first. I made a post asking about it a while back and lot of people think it's public health in medicine but that never quite sit right with me because public health already exists as its own field and MD-MPH programs are already a thing, so why the need to create a new field?
I did some digging since and what differs CI from PH is that CI has access to individual patient data while PH has access to population de-idenified data (as per HIPAA regulations); there are exceptions here and there like COVID, where clinics had to report every case to their public health department, but this is the exception, not the rule. This difference allows CI to identify trends in clinical settings and improve patient care outcomes, something a PH official can never do because they lack the training to make clinical use of such findings, not to mention they can't even access it in the first place.
CI gives you a foothold in every specialty from a data science standpoint so you can cross-reference a symptom from your specialty with another specialty that could lead to a less common diagnosis to improve patient outcomes. For example, let's say an overweight patient with vision problems sees two ophthalmologists, one with a CI background, one without. The ophthalmologist with a CI background is more likely to see the weight as a clinical clue to what's wrong with the patient because pituitary tumors can cause both. The ophthalmologist with a CI background wouldn't treat symptoms outside their specialty, but they are more likely to see them as clinically significant to what's wrong with the patient's vision. Whereas the ophthalmologist without a CI background is extremely unlikely to register the patient's weight as a significant clinical clue to what's wrong with the patient.
Needless to say, you need a physician mentor to pursue such a project.
Sorry for the lengthy explanation, but this is why I only see CI projects being meaningfully integrated into one's practice of medicine.
Like, since COVID, there have been rumors of a "loneliness epidemic." Several generations (millennials/gen Z/gen alpha) have been accused of "doomscrolling" and being "chronically online" with implications on mental health.
Those aren't just rumors. I personally experienced something similar.
There's a global monkey torture ring where people from western countries pay to see monkeys, especially baby monkeys get tortured, mutilated, and killed. I tracked down those videos out of morbid curiosity (the ones where they were physically tortured out of morbid curiosity) and watching those videos made me more prone to outbursts and aggression. I had to stop myself from watching those videos before they messed me up too much because it was bad for my mental health. At one point, I even questioned why bother pursuing medicine because whenever we manage to take a step in the right direction, the world takes 100 steps in the wrong direction.
But yeah, this research is absolutely necessary. Even introverts like me need human connection. When I was with my ex, I loved talking to her, going on dates, touching her (my love language is physical touch, get your head out of the gutter), etc. No matter how much you learn to love yourself, you cannot replicate or replace the intimacy and emotional connection that comes with a romantic partner.
