Work with father to publish paper?

[solitude]

I am a freshman undergrad, planning on applying to MD/PHD or research-oriented MD programs in a few years. My father is a professor at a good medical school. He has invited me to help him with a few projects that would lead to publications. What does everybody think med school adcoms would make of research and publications undertaken with one's parent? I would be thoroughly involved and familiar with the project, not just another peon who gets his name on the author line. (This won't be the only research that I do, obviously. I did some the summer before this year and will be participating in summer programs come June, which will hopefully carry over into the next academic year.) Thanks in advance.

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[Ol'DocToxic]

Since you are a freshman, I think it's a good idea to work in your father's lab. There's nothing wrong with using your parent's help in getting your foot in the door to research. If you get a publication out of it, great. If not, don't worry, the experience is still very valuable. As far as your concern that it may appear to adcomms that nepotism played a role in your research experience, you might think about doing some research in someone else's lab after you work in your father's for a while (say your Jr and Sr years). At that point, you will have already gotten a lot of lab experience, which will make you appealing as a potential undergrad lab worker to a different PI, and if you get published in a different professor's lab, you can point that out to any adcom to show that it wasn't just daddy that got you on a publication.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Since you are a freshman, I think it's a good idea to work in your father's lab. There's nothing wrong with using your parent's help in getting your foot in the door to research. If you get a publication out of it, great. If not, don't worry, the experience is still very valuable. As far as your concern that it may appear to adcomms that nepotism played a role in your research experience, you might think about doing some research in someone else's lab after you work in your father's for a while (say your Jr and Sr years). At that point, you will have already gotten a lot of lab experience, which will make you appealing as a potential undergrad lab worker to a different PI, and if you get published in a different professor's lab, you can point that out to any adcom to show that it wasn't just daddy that got you on a publication.

i agree with above poster ... you do what you can, you can't help that you have someone there to help you! Take it while you can! best of luck!

 

[Lexian]

Since you are a freshman, I think it's a good idea to work in your father's lab. There's nothing wrong with using your parent's help in getting your foot in the door to research. If you get a publication out of it, great. If not, don't worry, the experience is still very valuable. As far as your concern that it may appear to adcomms that nepotism played a role in your research experience, you might think about doing some research in someone else's lab after you work in your father's for a while (say your Jr and Sr years). At that point, you will have already gotten a lot of lab experience, which will make you appealing as a potential undergrad lab worker to a different PI, and if you get published in a different professor's lab, you can point that out to any adcom to show that it wasn't just daddy that got you on a publication.

That's very good advice. Instead of completely jumping ship to someone else's lab, you might want to think about reaching out to another lab who would be interested in a colloborative effort on a project similiar to the one you and your father are working on. That way you don't have to completely switch gears into another topic and would allow you to work under someone new in another lab and possibly get introduced to new techniques and further your contacts.

 

[N1DERL&]

I agree with the above posters. Use it to your full advantage! Learn from your dad's lab and use it as a stepping stone also! G'luck!!

 

[Law2Doc]

I am a freshman undergrad, planning on applying to MD/PHD or research-oriented MD programs in a few years. My father is a professor at a good medical school. He has invited me to help him with a few projects that would lead to publications. What does everybody think med school adcoms would make of research and publications undertaken with one's parent? I would be thoroughly involved and familiar with the project, not just another peon who gets his name on the author line. (This won't be the only research that I do, obviously. I did some the summer before this year and will be participating in summer programs come June, which will hopefully carry over into the next academic year.) Thanks in advance.

While there's nothing per se wrong with this, It might be better if your father hooked you up with one of his med professor colleagues to work with. I think it would look a bit more kosher to the adcoms if you showed up on publications as an undergrad where there wasn't also a collaborating author with the same last name (especially so if you end up being a first or second author to a major publication). I also note that it is sometimes an uncomfortable work dynamic to have a parent as one's boss, and you could end up feeling resentment from other researchers who get left off papers because they don't have a family connection...

 

[Acherona]

Wow I'm surprised you would even consider this. My Dad's connections helped me get into a lab in his hospital and I thought that was bad enough, I would never have considered working directly with him. I didn't even want to apply to the same school for MD/PhD. If I saw a parent/child publication I would be very skeptical about what the child had actually contributed and I do think it is a slightly questionable situation. You already have a huge headstart by having a parent in your field so why don't you just let him help you out by giving you advice/direction. Work in his lab for a summer to get some basic skills and then move on to a different lab. I don't think it's good to stay in the same lab for your entire undergrad anyway since you should be trying to get some broad exposure at this point.

 

[Mitro]

While there's nothing per se wrong with this, It might be better if your father hooked you up with one of his med professor colleagues to work with. I think it would look a bit more kosher to the adcoms if you showed up on publications as an undergrad where there wasn't also a collaborating author with the same last name (especially so if you end up being a first or second author to a major publication). I also note that it is sometimes an uncomfortable work dynamic to have a parent as one's boss, and you could end up feeling resentment from other researchers who get left off papers because they don't have a family connection...

I think Law2Doc hit it right on the head. You should also consider that you probably wont get a nice letter out of this experience. If you did solicit a letter, it would be taken with a HUGE grain of salt - even if you worked in another lab who were collaberators. Still, it's probably the easiest way to get your foot in the door. I say use the experience to jump ship to another lab in a year. You don't need publications for MD/PhD programs, you significant research experience and you need to demonstrate your commitment to it.

 

[jhugti]

Agreed- I think the order of priorities here should be 1. experience 2. letter 3. publication. Noody will hold it against you if you don't have a publication. Likewise, being author number 13 on a paper or something is meaningless if you can't talk about it at length in, for example, an interview situation. From that standpoint, it would be in your best interest to enter a lab (perhaps of a father's colleague) where you could make a good impression and at minimum get *true* work experience and a letter.

 

[solitude]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I guess the consensus is to spend some time in his lab to learn some techniques, then switch labs and spend a significant time in the other lab? This will probably work out well, since my undergrad school is halfway across the country from the medical school at which he works, so I was only going to work for him over winter break and summers.