Med Student Research

[BoyInTheBubble]

I'm interested in doing some research. I'm curious about it, but also looking to improve my CV. Can anyone share some good ideas for topics? Or how to go about finding a reasonable topic? I'm meeting with someone in a little under 2 weeks to discuss, but I'm not even sure where to start. As a third year, is it better to get involved with a faculty member's larger research, or to do your own? Obviously, doing something on your own would reduce the scope of what you can do. (As in pulling off an RCT would be way way way out of my league, but doing a chart review would be feasible.)


I'm not trying to get someone to spoon feed me the project, I just want to look prepared - and I have no idea where to start/how people get into this stuff. So, any good topics or ideas or helpful pointers would be great.

Thank you.

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[cpants]

Your best bet is to get in touch with whoever your chairperson is to start. They can likely point you in the direction of faculty actively doing research or offer you some opportunities they are working on. As a third year, you want to get the most bang for your buck. Working on bench research isn't a bad thing, but you are highly unlikely to get any pubs out of it. I would try to get involved in some chart review stuff. You should be able to pull off a couple of abstracts and maybe even get your name on a paper in a short amount of time if you find the right mentor.

 

[2012mdc]

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[2012mdc]

Your best bet is to get in touch with whoever your chairperson is to start. They can likely point you in the direction of faculty actively doing research or offer you some opportunities they are working on. As a third year, you want to get the most bang for your buck. Working on bench research isn't a bad thing, but you are highly unlikely to get any pubs out of it. I would try to get involved in some chart review stuff. You should be able to pull off a couple of abstracts and maybe even get your name on a paper in a short amount of time if you find the right mentor.

I'm in a similar boat but without a home program. What's the most effective way to get in touch/involved with a department at another close-by medical school?

 

[AsklepiosMD]

Is the person you are meeting in 2 weeks someone who is already involved in research, or someone who will guide you on how to contact someone in research?

If you have already set up a meeting with someone who is interviewing you for a research position my advice is

1. Figure out what type of research you are interested in
2. Figure out what type of research the faculty member is currently working on
3. Review anything they have published
4. Bring a copy of your CV to the meeting

Those are just some basic starters. When you get to the meeting/interview they will probably discuss current projects they are working on, if you are interested in working on any of them they will probably let you start small and go from there

I hope I addressed what you were asking

 

[AsklepiosMD]

I'm in a similar boat but without a home program. What's the most effective way to get in touch/involved with a department at another close-by medical school?

Email the faculty member, or assistant. Express your interests. Emails can usually be found on the schools /faculty member websites

 

[BoyInTheBubble]

Thanks for the replies.


I met with a faculty member. It was all very informal and friendly. I never really had any specific areas of interest, and just wanted to get involved. I thought I would have had to come up with things more on my own, but I have been guided nicely. They basically said any topic is available and they will put me in contact with whomever covers that field best. And help me refine the question and get going, etc etc.