Help: What is Research??

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hello all!</p>

<p>I am a freshman in a 8-year Combined BA/MD Degree Program, in which I'm guaranteed a seat into my University's School of Medicine after 4 years of undergraduate coursework .Now I understand that I don't need to pursue research for admission into medical school (since I am luckily covered), but I'm planning for the next step - residency. </p>

<p>I am from a small, rural town that has no major university or any research institution. Therefore, I am very uneducated about this research thing everyone is saying is very important, but I don't know what it really is.</p>

<p>After talking to a few upperclassmen, I've been in contact with one post-doctorate in the Dept. of Biology that is doing work on a certain parasite's genome, determining what could make it a problem for humans. </p>

<p>Is this the type of project I'm supposed to be looking for, or do I look for something more medical-related? How do I search for a research project that will suit my needs? What should I look for when considering my options? </p>

<p>Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it!</p>

2

<p>What is your long-term career goal? </p>

<p>Do you have any specific areas of interest? </p>

<p>1) Undergrad research will have no bearing on your ability to enter an particular field of specialization during residency. (That depends on your performance in med school, research in med school, USMLE scores, clinical grades & letters of recommendation.) </p>

<p>2) A research project should reflect your interests. If you’re interested in healthcare delivery to underserved rural areas, then the genetics of parasitology will be of little value to you. You might do better to seek out public health policy research or tele-medicine research or research dealing with the integration mid-level providers into rural healthcare settings. Or anything related to rural healthcare.</p>

<p>(For example, D2 was always interested in brain research/neuroscience and she liked math/was a math major. D2 did research looking for a brain biomarker that would identify mathematical disability [dyscalculia] in humans.)</p>

<p>3) Your research can be as basic (basic molecular biology) or as applied (best way to get mentally ill patients to come to follow up appointments) as you want it to be. Both have value. Both will teach you about the structure and methodology of research. It all depends on your interests and goals.</p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>So how to find a research project/research lab?</p>

<p>1) Identify your area of interests</p>

<p>2) Once you’ve identified your interests, then look through the faculty pages of both the university and its associated med school. You’ll be looking for someone whose areas of interest/research match/overlap/are close to yours.</p>

<p>3) After identifying one or more faculty members who are engaged in working in areas that interest you, go look at their CV, esp. their current/recent publications. (Those ought to be listed on their home webpage, but if not search for them by name in PubMed.) Read at least paper, preferably several, by each faculty member you’ve identified</p>

<p>4) Start contacting the faculty member and ask to meet with them about joining their research group. Explain why and include your CV. You’ll probably won’t get alot of responses at first. Keep trying. </p>

3

<p>Talk to pre-med advisor at your school. Actually, I am sure that you have 2 - one in your ba/md program and another just general. they are much more familiar with the opportunities at your school and specifically for UGs than any of us here.</p>

4

<p>

If you mean underserved areas in the US then I agree, but parasites are a major health burden in the developing world and someone with an interest in tropical medicine could find (even basic science) research on parasitology very interesting and useful.</p>