The research one does as a medical student can further the body of knowledge used to improve patient outcomes. These scholarly pursuits also can shape careers and help bolster a residency applicant’s credentials.
During a seven-year BA-MD track at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Whitney Stuard Sambhariya, MD, PhD, set off on a journey in research that she views as a lifelong pursuit. Her research, largely related to ophthalmology, gave her a foundation of how to conduct meaningful translational research and get published.
Now a PGY-1 in the ophthalmology program at Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, Dr. Sambhariya shared the lessons she learned as a medical student researcher and how they have continued to shape her career.
After starting her medical training in Serbia, AMA member Rosalynn Conic, MD, PhD, MPH, came to the United States and honed her research experience through observerships and pursuing advanced degrees, earning a PhD in transitional science, followed by a master’s degree in public health.
Now a third-year physical medicine and rehabilitation resident at the University of Florida, Dr. Conic shared the lessons she learned as a medical student researcher and how they have continued to shape her career.
Medical student research retrospective: Rosalynn “R.Z.” Conic, MD, PhD, MPH.
Current position: Third-year resident at the University of Florida.
Specialty: Physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Medical school: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine.
How I got interested in doing research: My physician-scientist father motivated my initial interest in research. He moved to the U.S. as a researcher, based on his extensive publication background. I remember him taking us to conferences and people who would approach him as an expert, while to me he was just dad. He jokes today that I'll exceed his achievements, but those are big shoes to fill.
My first scholarly pursuits: I was interested in stem cell research and spent a month in a molecular cardiology lab in high school. However, I realized that making a big discovery relied almost as much on luck as it did on skill, and I wanted a more predictable career.
My first foray into medical student research: The first four projects I worked on as a medical student were a case report, a histopathologic study, and working with two registries. I learned early on how to restructure databases, adapt questions, and do quality checks on extracted data. I also learned that while case reports are very interesting, they are difficult to publish (but great for conference presentations).
My signature medical student research: The study that stands out most is one where we looked at cases of squamous cell carcinoma arising in seborrheic keratosis, which are considered a benign lesion. It involved reviewing patient characteristics, clinical appearance/description of the lesions, and histopathologic characteristics. It was interesting, challenging and the first time I wrote a paper.
How my research relates to my physician specialty choice: I ended up pursuing a residency that didn’t align with my medical student research. As a medical student, dermatology research fascinated me. There are so many cutaneous disorders and potential topics, but when I rotated in the U.S. clinical dermatology was not what sparked joy and I had to pivot. When dissecting the research methodology I enjoyed, it was large health care datasets, EHR data, and health services research. This guided me to preventive medicine and later physical medicine and rehab which is broad clinically and has a broad area of research topics. So far, I have not narrowed on a single research path and analyzed data from athletes to amputees in inpatient rehab to outcomes with spinal cord stimulators.
Why research skills matter in my specialty: I believe research skills, to varying degrees, are a necessity regardless of specialty. Interpretation of existing articles and the ability to identify their limitations is the core foundation for evidence-based medicine and guides what we do in both inpatient and outpatient settings. In fact, when I guide medical students on choosing a specialty I advise looking at the top journals in their field of choice and making sure that they have an interest in potentially reading at least half the articles because they'll have to continue revisiting those topics throughout their training and longitudinal assessments once board certified.
How much research I conduct day-to-day: My program generously offers one-half day per week of research during residency during PGY-3 and PGY-4. This is sufficient to support continued longitudinal participation in research, without impacting clinical experience and education—which are the primary goals of residency training. Moving forward from residency, I hope to continue doing big data research and health care outcomes research. However, the extent of my involvement will depend on the attending contract—so stay tuned!
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Barriers I encountered doing medical student research: Initially, it was finding people to work with during medical school. I ultimately sought out research opportunities by doing a rotation in the U.S. Next, I knew some statistics (from an advanced-placement statistics class) but the department I worked with did not have a statistician, so I had to teach myself, and ultimately ended up pursuing a PhD to learn how to conduct research on my own—including statistics—which opened up many options. Finally, transitioning from my prior research topics to my current clinical work was challenging because it meant learning completely different literature.
How I have identified research mentors: I met my mentors largely through “luck of the draw.” During my observership in plastic surgery, I was in the shared breakroom and met my first mentor, Dr. Natasha Mesinkovska, MD, PhD, a dermatologist, who knew I was a foreign medical student, and gave me a chance to work on some of her projects. Through her, I met the rest of my mentors in that field. She was not only invaluable in helping me grow as a researcher, but also in guiding me through residency applications and with life advice—we remain in touch.
Advice for medical students with designs on publishing: Don't give up, and don't take rejection personally. Some projects require one journal submission, others may get rejected from several journals before finding a home. In addition, original full research publications are not the only type of research! There are reviews, meta-analyses, brief research articles, case reports and commentaries—all of these count as research, though they are weighted differently.
How research experience affects my ability to grasp new discoveries and apply them in practice: My initial research was in melanoma and cutaneous cancers, psoriasis and hair loss. As you can imagine, the quality, research methodology, and baseline impact of melanoma were greater than in hair loss, with psoriasis falling in between. Now, in physical medicine and rehabilitation, it helps to form a grounding perspective and understanding of studies that aren’t perfect but are the best that could be done with currently available data or methodology. For example, the body of evidence on stroke and traumatic brain injury is more robust, with a more complex methodology, compared to pediatric rehabilitation.
Other tips for medical student researchers: Find mentors who are motivated to help you and guide you through the research process. They are usually early or mid-career, rather than the legends in the field. Second, set a timeline for the project, establish expectations, and authorship order at the beginning. I worked with several trainees in the past who had poor experiences with having the authorship of the project given to a more senior person due to politics. Next, if your goal is to get several publications quickly, this is likely not going to be accomplished in basic science research and you should look for clinical research projects. Finally, just because your institution doesn't have research opportunities, it doesn't mean you can't find a mentor at another institution.
