Cold e-mailing residents for research opportunities?

[Dr. Trafalgar Law]

M1. So I recently spoke to a professor about getting involved with research in his department and he a little under a week ago he'd put me in contact with his fellow to work on a research project, but he has yet to do so and is really bad at responding to e-mails tbh.

I'm feeling kind of lost and discouraged now as I've e-mailed multiple other professors and they either have consistently ignored or just told me that they have no research projects going on. Is it appropriate to just start cold-emailing some residents in the specialty I'm interested in if I can work on any research projects they may have going on, or would that be crass? Kind of feel limited due to COVID in findings other ways I can get in contact with faculty of this department, besides just e-mailing.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[odyssey2]

No one’s really bothered by cold emails, at worst they just ignore them. It’s not rude, it just may take a while before you get a response.

 

[AzBasRad]

If you are going to cold email residents, try the chief residents. They may have a better overview of the research projects from a specific department.

 

[kidthor]

Many departments will have a vice chair for research, which could be a lead. Or just email other professors who are doing research you’re interested in. There’s no harm in emailing more than one person if you’re simply trying to learn more. Once you connect with someone they should be able to help you or steer your in the right direction.

The issue with emailing residents is that they aren’t often well connected with the research enterprise or profession beyond their clinical programs, and they may lead you a bit astray. Nothing wrong with it, it just isn’t the best route. If anything then yes the chief resident route is a good idea.

 

[Sky138]

Don’t waste your time with residents. You’ll end up doing all the work and getting none of the credit. Also he might have been doing you a favor as fellows are incentivized to push out papers.

 

[Keep2r]

Find out if there is a point person for each department that manages all active research projects. Your med school and each subspecialty department should have someone like this and the secretaries might know.

Would avoid contacting residents. Not everyone has an active project and if they do, you might get taken advantage of since you are not interacting directly with the PI.

 

[mvenus929]

Depending on your specialty (large like IM or peds vs smaller like the surgical subspecialties), you're better off emailing fellows and attendings than residents. The residents at my hospital have no clue what's going on in individual specialty divisions unless they are actively doing research there. The chiefs might, but the fellows know much more or can put you in contact with the research leader in the division.

In the smaller specialties, this may not be true since the overall department is typically relatively small.

 

[DameJulie]

It's not rude at all. Most residents that you emailed probably have been where you were and are understanding of you trying to find research during a pandemic.

Just be prepared to invest some time writing those emails and expect low turnout. You already came up with a great idea/plan!