When did you start research? Im an M1 thinking of joining a clinical research lab. In undergrad I did basic science research in computational/Ochem and got 1 paper, so I want to do something more like application based
I completed a Master's in Neurobiology prior to entering med school. I initially envisioned going the PhD route into pure academia, but eventually realized that a decent majority of a research career is focused on grant writing and funding applications, whereas I enjoyed research more for the actual animal and bench work. That hands-on approach was likely my inspiration for choosing a surgical career, and neurosurgery was a natural extension of my research interests.
As an M1, you have a lot of opportunities to pursue either basic or clinical science work, although your involvement on how motivated you are and how much time you're willing to invest. If you have a field in mind, the simplest thing to do is contact a faculty member in that department and introduce yourself and your interests. Otherwise, you can contact a resident. Everybody is used to getting cold-called, so don't be shy. There's always quite a bit of scut work to be done that faculty or residents are more than willing to pass on to eager med students.
You can basically look at 3 different types of projects:
(1)
Case report: Simplest to research and write, good way to boost your CV, and a good way to show a potential supervisor that you have the ability to complete a smaller project. These are actually getting easier to publish due to the proliferation of paid and open-access journals, although there is some difficulty getting into a formal peer-reviewed journal, depending on your specialty. The latter are always preferred. However, one can tend to write these up fairly quickly and shop them around multiple journals before acceptance. Adding a literature review will likely lead to an increased chance of acceptance, although will take more effort.
(2)
Clinical science: Varies in complexity, from a simple retrospective series, to more developed prospective cohorts, to full-blown RCTs, and all the stuff in-between (i.e. meta-analyses). Your role depends on the type of study. As a medical student, you could likely be a first, second or third author on a retrospective review depending on your skill, motivation and level of involvement. The data are already there, you just need to sift through the noise; meaning, a familiarity with stats and interpretations. This tends to be difficult if you don't have prior experience, although bigger labs will have dedicated statisticians. Prospective studies and RCTs will already have people working on them, but you may be able to insert yourself into a minor role, accepting a less prominent authorship.
(3)
Basic science: The most difficult type of research to perform, due to the need for resources and longer duration required for experiment completion. Cell and molecular work are usually "easier" or "faster" than animal work, but can vary wildly based on the experiment. The biggest roadblock will be your inability to commit to the daily lab work because of your medical studies. Reserving these for the summer months is feasible, although you need to have a protocol up and running the moment you get started, and have to have clear goals. Even then, a few months is likely inadequate, unless another student takes over, and you might be busy with other commitments (i.e. USMLE). This is what I did in the summers of M1 and M2, but I had a basic science background coming in and was able to set something up with a colleague of my graduate supervisor. Again, if you pursue this avenue it may be beneficial to take on a more minor role, such as data analysis or similar, which is lesser authorship but also less work and responsibility.
So, my recommendation is to get involved early. Even if you don't know exactly which field you want, the ability to plan, research and perform a project is transferable across specialties. When residency applications are up, program directors are less likely to care that you did a case series in psychiatric patients as opposed to a neurosurgical issue, for example. If you presented or published, that's more important, because it shows you had initiative. Don't worry about primary authorship; accepting third author for the small part that you played in a project is a very good opportunity. Try to take your projects to local, national or international conferences if feasible.
Lastly, don't bite off more than you can chew. Lots of medical students try to get involved, and then fizzle out because they don't keep up with the work. I remember every student who has ever contacted me to get involved in a project, the majority of whom worked hard and were able to get published in some avenue. I also remember those who were given a role, and for one reason or another did little to no work. I remember those students just as well, as do the faculty involved.
