Research and Scholarship

An active research component is included within the fellowship program. During this phase of training, you work under the close guidance of a faculty research mentor.

The immediate goals of your research experience are to learn:

• sound methodology in designing and performing research studies
• the correct interpretation and synthesis of research data
• the purposes, goals and characteristics of different phases (e.g., Phase I, II, III) of clinical trials and understanding of the significant differences
• biostatistics that will allow the trainee to interpret the published literature and to critically discriminate the impact of such work to their clinical practice
• basic elements of proper clinical trial design including identification of target populations, statistical power, proper statistical tools and ethical concerns
• the purpose and function of the Institutional Review Board and other regulatory bodies that oversee the conduct of clinical investigations
• design of informed consent documents and understanding of the ethics related to conducting clinical trials, including issues of industry sponsorship and conflict of interest
• to manage a patient on a clinical trial, including the ability to evaluate a patient’s eligibility for participation in a specific clinical trial; obtaining the necessary baseline studies; writing the treatment orders as directed in the protocol; following a trial’s calendar for assuring that required patient encounters, therapy, diagnostic studies and data collection are performed at the appropriate times; and assessing and reporting responses and adverse events appropriately
• general working knowledge of what “translational research” is, how it is performed and its value
• to participate in, or have didactic training in, the clinical trial process, including having the opportunity to be involved in the processes of designing research protocols, writing clinical protocols, obtaining regulatory approval for a clinical trial, enrolling patients into clinical trials, performing data analysis, manuscript writing and making formal presentations of data collected
• to seek out the existence and details of available clinical trials available at their institution and elsewhere in the course of caring for their patients.
• how to find funding resources for research studies

Faculty in our division welcome fellows into their labs to embark on meaningful studies. Our scientists focus their work in a variety of research areas.