Presenting in PRS meeting, which one should I go to?

[turundu]

Hi,

I'm planning on applying next year for the integrated PRS match. Currently, I'm a postdoc in a research lab doing high-throughput sequencing of patients with a craniofacial anomaly.

I was wondering if anyone has experience on oral presentations in regional/national meetings OR if you could suggest some names that I should be looking for in terms of exposure, potential connections, etc, etc.

I acknowledge that the type of research that I do will be more appropriate for a basic science-oriented meeting such as the Plastic Surgery Research Council; however, I'd like to hear from people who has had similar experiences and if you think that at the time of the application it was worthy to do it.

I'd really appreciate your input,

thanks!

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[maxheadroom]

Not sure I understand the question. Are you asking which meetings to submit to for a presentation? Or are you asking which attendings to try and track down?

In short, apply to any meeting where you (and your mentor) think your research might have a prayer of being accepted. PSRC is good for the kind of thing that you mentioned, but ASPS might be reasonable. I'm a Hand/Nerve guy, so I don't know much about the craniofacial societies, but I assume that they have a meeting, too.

 

[Moravian]

The American Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Association (ACPA) has both a craniofacial section and science section. It's in Dallas this year (2010) and is usually very well attended.

--M

 

[turundu]

I'm sorry if I didn't myself clear. I aimed to ask which meetings you think are "key" to have me and my research better exposed for my future application.

To my understanding PSRC has a high number of academic surgeons attending the conference. Possibly, they might be involved with the application process but I don't know if that will be sufficient in terms of invitations to interview next year.

Did you have similar experiences (oral presentations) when you were applying to PRS?

 

[Moravian]

I'm sorry if I didn't myself clear. I aimed to ask which meetings you think are "key" to have me and my research better exposed for my future application. /QUOTE]

I really don't think the venue is going to be all that important. The chances are pretty good that the people that interview you (if one of them was present at your talk) is not going to remember your name. It's important to publish and/or present because that's generally one of the hoops you'll need to jump through to get a spot. I don't think it's going to have a lot of bearing on whether or not you get an interview unless there are other issues with your application. For instance, if your Step I and II scores aren't stellar, it may nudge you into the interview stack.

At my institution, we received over 200 applications and are interviewing around 40. They all have some research experience.

The one meeting that all the bigwigs usually go to is the American Association of Plastic Surgery meeting. The downsides are that they accept very few of the submitted abstracts and if you blow it, you probably will be remembered.

--M

 

[turundu]

I perfectly see your point Moravian, thanks for explaining!!!

Although, I don't have "stellar" scores (they're around mid 230s), I've dedicated quite sometime to a very interesting project on human genetics. I've also been lucky enough to have published my work in some high-impact medical journals. Hopefully, this will set the difference during the interview trail (if I ever get invited...)

BTW, thanks for suggesting the AAPS meeting