Reaching out to residents/fellows to help out with research

[pigsinacloth]

I know that cold emailing attendings to ask about research opportunities is a common way for medical students to get involved in research, but would it be worth it to reach out to residents or fellows too? I recently read an article by a resident and their email is listed so I am wondering if this could maybe result in them feeling happy that someone is interested or off putting because I am being aggressive.

I know another option would be emailing the resident/fellow coordinator and asking if there are any residents that are looking to get help from a medical student.

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[Bollinger_MD]

1) Any resident that you would enjoy doing research with will either have a way for you to get involved or help you find a way.

2) Be strategic about who you ask and what projects you get involved with. Case reports that you complete with residents/faculty at a program you plan to apply to can go a long way.

3) Never be afraid to ask. The worst someone can say is no.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I generally would recommend starting with the program director as they may have an idea of who is working on a project and may be able to help triage your email.

Of course, sometimes those emails go nowhere, so if you try that and get no response then cold-emailing residents would be fine.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Usually, residents and fellows projects are directed by attendings. ie, the research opportunity is usually given to an resident by an attending. It's not to say that a medical student couldn't email a resident and help with their project, but you're gonna find your role is diminished.

Is there a reason you don't want to reach out to an attending?

 

[pigsinacloth]

Usually, residents and fellows projects are directed by attendings. ie, the research opportunity is usually given to an resident by an attending. It's not to say that a medical student couldn't email a resident and help with their project, but you're gonna find your role is diminished.

Is there a reason you don't want to reach out to an attending?

Ok that makes a lot of sense. The only reason that I was thinking about reaching out to the resident and not a specific attending is because the resident was listed as the corresponding author and their email address was included. It probably makes the most sense for me to email the attending and I can CC the resident and explain that I became interested in the research after reading the paper where the resident was first author.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Ok that makes a lot of sense. The only reason that I was thinking about reaching out to the resident and not a specific attending is because the resident was listed as the corresponding author and their email address was included. It probably makes the most sense for me to email the attending and I can CC the resident and explain that I became interested in the research after reading the paper where the resident was first author.

Well, usually if the attending is senior enough and the resident has done the majority of the work, the resident could be considering for the corresponding author. It's really hard to say for whatever specific example you are talking about, but generally speaking, the resident isn't going to have the experience or resources to develop a project from the ground up. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it's just unlikely.

 

[pigsinacloth]

Well, usually if the attending is senior enough and the resident has done the majority of the work, the resident could be considering for the corresponding author. It's really hard to say for whatever specific example you are talking about, but generally speaking, the resident isn't going to have the experience or resources to develop a project from the ground up. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it's just unlikely.

Yeah I get what you're saying! I am just thinking that if I include both of them on the email there is also a higher chance that one of them reads it and responds to me in some capacity.

I probably should have included in my first post that the program is not associated with my school, but rather a hospital system in my home state and one that I would be interested in matching at. I am not sure how relevant that is, but I just want to maximize my chances of getting some kind of response, because I know that they probably receive a ton of emails everyday.

Thank you very much for the help!

 

[mvenus929]

Well, usually if the attending is senior enough and the resident has done the majority of the work, the resident could be considering for the corresponding author. It's really hard to say for whatever specific example you are talking about, but generally speaking, the resident isn't going to have the experience or resources to develop a project from the ground up. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it's just unlikely.

FWIW, both my residency research project and my fellowship research project(s) were 'given' to me as ideas by the attending I was working with--I had to come up with the protocol on my own, do all the data collection, figure out how to do stats (in one case, asking the statistician, in another, doing it myself).

OP, feel free to contact the resident or fellow directly. Sometimes they'll answer, sometimes they won't. I tend to direct other learners to our research co-director because she knows more globally what is happening in the division (and I'm transitioning in several roles right now, so don't have any projects in a phase where I can take on a student or resident).

 

[SurfingDoctor]

FWIW, both my residency research project and my fellowship research project(s) were 'given' to me as ideas by the attending I was working with--I had to come up with the protocol on my own, do all the data collection, figure out how to do stats (in one case, asking the statistician, in another, doing it myself).

OP, feel free to contact the resident or fellow directly. Sometimes they'll answer, sometimes they won't. I tend to direct other learners to our research co-director because she knows more globally what is happening in the division (and I'm transitioning in several roles right now, so don't have any projects in a phase where I can take on a student or resident).

Oh I'm sure it happens. Ironically, these projects where the attending puts in little to no effort typically go no where. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, it's just been my experience that attendings are happy to pawn off ideas to trainees with little interest in them actually being fruitful.

 

[mvenus929]

Oh I'm sure it happens. Ironically, these projects where the attending puts in little to no effort typically go no where. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, it's just been my experience that attendings are happy to pawn off ideas to trainees with little interest in them actually being fruitful.

Oh, that's certainly fair. My residency project wouldn't have ended in a publication had I not pushed for it (after receiving good feedback from my poster presentations), and my fellowship project took many turns before I landed on the one I submitted to the board cause my PI is not the most organized person, nor do they tend to get things done. Which people told me, but they were also the only one doing anything in my area of interest...