Surgery Summer Research Experience for Medical Students

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The decrease in the number of physicians interested in pursuing a career as a clinician-scientist is well documented in lower numbers of NIH applications and in AAMC questionnaires. The Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin is uniquely qualified to direct a short-term summer research experience for medical students who are interested in research related to diabetes, obesity, endocrine disorders, nutritional disorders, digestive diseases, liver disease, kidney disease, and urologic disease! The overall program goal of this Department of Surgery training program is to provide 6 medical students with a focused, mentored 12- week research and training experience that will help students discern their career path, preferably toward a career which involves biomedical research. During this experience, all students will plan and complete a research project, complete a learning contract, attend an established curriculum in effective research and academic conduct, and write an abstract for submission and presentation at a medical meeting. The training program will foster the development of knowledge, competence, skills, professional attitudes, and experience required to understand what is involved in successful academic careers in laboratory or clinically- based research related to the goals of the NIDDK. The four specific objectives of this program are to: (a) expose medical students, early in their training, to the excitement and challenges of a research career through participation in an individual, mentored training experience; (b) encourage students to pursue a research career through participation in a focused 12-week research experience in a research program of relevance to the mission of NIDDK; (c) provide a didactic curriculum emphasizing research issues, and; (d) increase the pool of medical students who pursue further research activities by partnering medical students with physicians and scientists who will serve as role models for a career combining patient care and scientific research. The training program includes plans to follow-up with trainees later in their career to evaluate whether their summer surgical research experience in the Department of Surgery led to additional research training and a career as a clinician-scientist.