How to find research opportunities?

[amyames]

So...it looks like I'm gonna have more time on my hands than I wanted...silly electives....and I was thinking that doing some research in my free months would be a good idea. However, I have some questions regarding research

1. Where is the best place to find clinical research opps?
2. Does research really look good even if I don't get a poster or a publication out of it?
3. How much research does one have to do before it really "counts" towards your application?

I'm hoping some of the veterans can answer my questions.....I hope I can find some research in the months I have off. either that, or I'll try find and an international elective or two.

[amyames]

disappointed I havent received an answer. how many of you guys have done clinical research?

[KingMo]

1. Where is the best place to find clinical research opps?
2. Does research really look good even if I don't get a poster or a publication out of it?
3. How much research does one have to do before it really "counts" towards your application?


2. You really at minimum need to have a poster. A publication is key. The whole point of doing research is probably because you need to bolster your application; a publication is the only way to bring it up a notch through the research avenue. Otherwise it's just another experience on your already long list of experiences that everyone else already has.

1. You can try the NIH website through their different divisions. Otherwise, you can take the more frivilous approach and look up university websites, find all the faculty in all the departments, and email them cold. If you're willing to work for free, maybe a few out of 50 or 60 will respond and ask to meet with you and possibly take you on. Attach your CV.

Your questions emphasized clinical research. In that case, you should seek out the M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. faculty as they will eventually guide you toward the more clinically-oriented studies or translational studies.

3. Again, see number 2. You should aim for publication. Anything short of that is really wasting your time, when you can be watching House and learning twice as much.

[mario345]

i am no veteran, but i will share my experience with you, as i have one poster presentation at a conference, and a potential review article...

the poster presentation was on a patient we had in our IM service...the hospital was having its annual poster conference (i was lucky that i did my IM rotation at that time, i guess)...i wrote up an abstract, made the poster, etc and presented it...i was the primary author and was able to put that on my CV that i presented and published...the abstract was submitted to ACP later on.

the second research experience IS (currently underway) also on a case report-literature review. however, this was a bit shady...its not meant to be converted into a poster presentation (so i cant even take credit for presenting it - they usually let students present it which is GREAT!). however, i did ALL the scut work...taking the pics, writing the abstracts, going through the litearature, etc. BUT when i finished my rotation, i realized that i will not be the primary, or even secondary, or tertiary or even ANY of the authors...my resident (surgeons, what do you expect!) just uses students during these rotations for scut work, and when they are finished the rotation, he uses their "draft" and builds upon it...and publishes it when they are history...so basically, as a student, you get stuck doing all this work with no credit! thats the worst thing you could do...be attracted and approahced by "ooo reserach research!" from these lazy interns, who are often REQUIRED to do it as part of their curriculum...because in the end you have nothing to show for...
that happened with me and it made me really angry...because i did all this scut work and i could not even put on my CV...[you cant put down a citation on your CV unless you publish or present it!]...so im not the one to argue for this...so i didnt bother...however...a lesson learnt!

so, my 2 cents...make sure that if you do sign up for any research experience, you can use it to yoru advantage...no one really cares that a patient with acute intermitten porphyria (or any other rare disease) was in your service and what you did for them..IF you cant show it off on your CV...

[mario345]

as for how to find them?

ask your residents, attendings, etc anyone who is doing research and would let your 'tag along'...most of them want help anyway to do all this work...

other options are research electives...and NIH.

[Anon1002]

Do any of you know whether residency interviewers care when you gained your research experience? In my case, I'll have been working in clinical research at a major East Coast institution for 4 years prior to med school...it should result in 2 manuscript publications (in the works) and 2 abstracts in the JCO (posters at ASCO). Of course, I'm not first author on these, but in your opinion, is publication something I should prioritize while in school? In any case, I understand more is always better, but if time is constraining, I'm curious to hear if this is something I could rank lower on my list of to-do's.

Thanks, all.

[rokshana]

Do any of you know whether residency interviewers care when you gained your research experience? In my case, I'll have been working in clinical research at a major East Coast institution for 4 years prior to med school...it should result in 2 manuscript publications (in the works) and 2 abstracts in the JCO (posters at ASCO). Of course, I'm not first author on these, but in your opinion, is publication something I should prioritize while in school? In any case, I understand more is always better, but if time is constraining, I'm curious to hear if this is something I could rank lower on my list of to-do's.

Thanks, all.

no, you should prioritize med school while in med school...sure research and other EC during med school is nice and all, but if you sould concentrate on doing the best you can in basics so you have a good grounding to do well on the steps....just like applying to med school, grades and standardized tests are the most important criteria for getting a residency...you can have 1st author on an article in NEJM, but if you don't do well on the steps, well...that article won't get you a spot...

[amyames]

all the replies were great. thanks everyone.

I'm looking into research opps at a place I would apply for residency, so we'll see what happens. I'm just trying to use whatever connections I have, which are very few, and see what happens...

Or I guess this means I better grovel and apologize to my PI and finish my masters thesis....that's the only thing preventing me from getting my masters; I have all the course work finished and a 30 page proposal finished. but that work I left about 2 years ago....yeesh, what a mistake that was!

but it's time to buckle down and finally take step 2 ck....so I'm off to study.

[nydoc70]

So...it looks like I'm gonna have more time on my hands than I wanted...silly electives....and I was thinking that doing some research in my free months would be a good idea. However, I have some questions regarding research

1. Where is the best place to find clinical research opps?
2. Does research really look good even if I don't get a poster or a publication out of it?
3. How much research does one have to do before it really "counts" towards your application?

I'm hoping some of the veterans can answer my questions.....I hope I can find some research in the months I have off. either that, or I'll try find and an international elective or two.
research at a teaching hospital is the best...find a mentor...new york has rockefeller university, sloan kettering, mt sinai, beth israel, etc. if you are already a graduate - you can apply as a clinical research associate (CRA)...minimum write ups, IRB, biostats, some monetary benefits...posters come after abstracts are accepted...good if you have quick retrospective projects...difficult if these are grants or prospective reviews. the impression of scholarly work in the clinical setting is always positive for program directors. good luck.

[Anon1002]

Yes, thanks for the good advice everyone.