How do I get a research position outside of my school without connections?

[Nontrad4life]

Let me preface by saying I am not a gunner. However, my medical school is focused on rural primary care, and I want to do international EM humanitarian/ disaster stuff. Namely, this fellowship:

Disaster Medicine Fellowship | BIDMC | Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians

The BIDMC Fellowship in Disaster Medicine is a 1-year program in which qualified fellows develop an expertise in all aspects of Disaster Medicine, including EMS, humanitarian operations, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE), hospital-based emergency management, disaste

www.disasterfellowship.org

I have zero clue on how to build a CV towards that but know research is important and a high tier residency is important since 90% of their fellows came from highly ranked institutions. Currently am building a list of potential research PI's on the east coast to cold call. So my questions are

What do you write in a cold call email for PI's?

If anyone is on a similar path, how can I as a rural M1 start getting enough experience to compete with students from Harvard/Stanford for the high end residencies?

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[slowthai]

Just introduce yourself, tell them what kind of research you're interested in (it should be more or less the same thing they're focusing on, that way they'll be more motivated to help you), and ask if they'd be willing to work with you.

And doing research isn't being a gunner. A gunner is a terrible person that tries to step on other people to get ahead. It's not someone that just works very hard.

 

[Nontrad4life]

Just introduce yourself, tell them what kind of research you're interested in (it should be more or less the same thing they're focusing on, that way they'll be more motivated to help you), and ask if they'd be willing to work with you.

And doing research isn't being a gunner. A gunner is a terrible person that tries to step on other people to get ahead. It's not someone that just works very hard.

Thanks! I just really don't wanna make it seem like I am only interested in padding my resume. I mean yes, I would not do research unless pumping out pubs was a certainty, that's just being honest, but contributing to the field is also super important.

 

[slowthai]

Thanks! I just really don't wanna make it seem like I am only interested in padding my resume. I mean yes, I would not do research unless pumping out pubs was a certainty, that's just being honest, but contributing to the field is also super important.

Listen, most of us are doing it just to pad our CVs, so you're not alone in this, lol. It requires far too much time and effort (not to mention stress) for any other reason if you're not truly passionate about it.

The people that are dying to contribute can go and have fun in academia, lol

 

[Musty Goose]

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