Overview of Research Opportunities
The Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver is one of the major research departments in the United States. We rank among the top U.S. medical school departments of medicine for dollars of research funding achieved by our faculty. The faculty who train our residents are leaders in their research fields nationally and internationally and continue to contribute significantly to practice changing research outcomes across the discipline of Internal Medicine.
The Department of Medicine is committed to offering every resident the opportunity for research training, to provide education and exposure for the research process, and to provide individually focused support for research careers.
ABIM Research Pathway
The ABIM Research Pathway allows residents to substitute a year of clinical training in a subspecialty for the PGY3 year of the residency - in essence, to "short track" into fellowship training. Residents with an MD/PhD or equivalent advanced scientific training credentials will qualify for the Pathway. Credentials equivalent to an MD/PhD would ordinarily include at least two years of full-time research and one or more first-author publications, as well as strong support from previous research mentors.
Residents interested the Pathway will meet with a member of the Resident Research Committee in the first month of residency to discuss their research and career plans. To qualify for the ABIM Research Pathway, they must "be rated as satisfactory in all components of clinical competence (clinical judgment, medical knowledge, clinical skills, humanistic qualities, professionalism and provision of medical care) and moral and ethical behavior in the clinical setting for both the PGY-1 and PGY-2 years of training." Residents identified as candidates for the Pathway will formally review their clinical progress with their Associate Program Director/Program Director mentor by November of their internship year, and if on track to achieving clinical competency will be encouraged to submit an application for subspecialty fellowship training with strong support from the Residency Program. They will have additional reviews of clinical progress at the end of the PGY1 year and the PGY2 year. The residency program reserves the final determination of clinical competency to the end of the PGY2 year.
Residents who elect the ABIM Research Pathway will not be restricted to fellowship training at UCD but can expect to be strongly recruited to our fellowship programs.
The Residency Program adheres to the ABIM policies regarding the ABIM Research Pathway. They can be found at http://www.abim.org/default.aspx
Research Electives for Residents
Residents are strongly encouraged to do research during their elective time. Most residents who elect to do research choose a mentor and project either by the end of the PGY1 year or the beginning of the PGY2 year. To help them find the right project, residents meet with a member of the Resident Research Committee and review a database of potential mentors. Once a mentor is identified, residents prepare a formal proposal of elective research. These proposals are reviewed by the Resident Research Director, Dr. Borges, and elective time is assigned based on the merit of the project and the nature of the research. Highly motivated residents who can identify a mentor and outline a project by January of PGY1 may take a research elective as their one month PGY1 elective. More often, residents will establish their research plans and be ready to take up to a two month research block in the PGY2 and/or PGY3 years. In general, up to 3 months of research elective will be considered for meritorious and productive research candidates. For those residents who participate in research, twice a year, a “Research in Progress” night occurs offering an informal mingling of residents and faculty to show off their projects to data, discuss research careers, fellowship opportunities and applications, facilitate mentorship connections, and provide guidance and insight into the balance between academic life and personal life.
Categorical Curriculum
Many residents know they would like to consider research as part of their career future, but have not participated in significant research or have a full understanding of the broad array of research opportunities available. In order to provide an overview of research options a resident could consider and to provide education in the basics of research, our categorical monthly curriculum focuses on a longitudinal didactic series that combines basic overviews of various research disciplines with “Meet the Professor” lectures of those faculty actively pursuing careers in these areas. When applicable, senior residents are also asked to present their projects to the group as “Resident Research Scholars”. Incorporated into this curriculum are fellowship preparation and career mentoring sessions, introduction to other aspects of medicine, including biopharmaceutical company start-up and management and careers in industry. In addition to the Research Curriculum, there is considerable infrastructure available to support resident research, including research travel awards to help defray the costs of attending national meetings.
rev. 10/13/09
