Welcome to Research Panel Series
Panel 1 Highlights: Maximizing your Time for Research
Written by Dhruv Sharma and Omar Tarawneh (MSOS Education Committee Co-Chairs)
The “Maximizing your Time for Research” panel was the first panel hosted by the MSOS Education Committee as part of the research panel series “Welcome to Research”. The purpose of this panel was to gather advice from our expert panelists on how to get involved with research, how to balance research and school, and how to be the most productive medical student researcher. We were honored to have these panelists discuss their thoughts.
Introduction
Panelists
Dr. Brian Chalmers completed his residency training at the Mayo Clinic where he served as chief resident, followed by a fellowship in adult reconstruction at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). He is currently an Assistant Orthopedic Surgery Attending at HSS and New York-Presbyterian Hospital as well as an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications.
Avilash Das was involved in research during medical school at Boston University School of Medicine. He is currently a PGY2 at George Washington University with a current interest in Adult Reconstruction and Trauma.
Stephanie Kazuba conducted research in medical school with the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute. She is now a PGY2 at Yale University with interests in arthroplasty and lower extremity limb reconstruction.
Nipun Sodhi was previously a research fellow at the Cleveland Clinic and Lenox Hill. Currently, he is a PGY4 at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
Andrew Harris did a research year in medical school at Johns Hopkins University in the orthopedic surgery spine department. He has over 40 publications and has presented research at local, national, and international conferences. He is now a PGY3 at Johns Hopkins University.
Highlights
These panelists provided a plethora of knowledge in just a one hour panel. Below are some highlighted advice/quotes from our panelists:
“Research is a great way to be exposed to academic medicine, network, and learn what people around the country
are working on.” -Nipun Sodhi, MD
2. “Medical students should establish relationships with attendings on research projects in addition to residents.”
-Brian Chalmers, MD
3. “The key to balance in research is to set reasonable goals for yourself such as stating that you will do three hours of
chart review a week while managing your schedule.”
-Stephanie Kazuba, MD
4. “Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Have projects in different stages in case one project doesn’t go smoothly.”
-Andrew Harris, MD
5. “Learn to ask for help or say no to projects when you feel that you cannot follow through on the work.”
-Avilash Das, MD
6. “Research skills are translatable so research in different specialties will always help with orthopedic specific
research.” -Stephanie Kazuba, MD
7. “Don’t be discouraged if there are not many research opportunities at your school. Research can be a part of your
career at any point in the process. Program directors want to see what you did differently in medical school and
research is one way to show that.” -Brian Chalmers, MD
8. “Always choose projects that you are genuinely interested in as this makes the process much more enjoyable and
you will be more committed to your project.” -Stephanie Kazuba, MD
9. “Use PubMed to decide who to conduct your research with. It can show you the topics attendings are interested in
and what journals they like publishing in.” -Nipun Sodhi, MD
10. “Early mentorship is important for students to be inspired and help with long term career development.”
-Brian Chalmers, MD
Next Panel
Of course, this was not all the information discussed in the panel. We encourage any student interested in orthopedic surgery to attend the next panel to gather more advice. The next panel “Building a Research Mentor-Mentee Relationship” will be held on Zoom, Thursday, September 29th from 8-9PM ET. Registration for the next panel opens on Thursday, September 8th on Twitter and Instagram (@MSOSOrtho). As a reminder, the panel recordings will not be posted, so please join us live.
