January 30, 2024 • 13 mins
Have you ever wondered how to make your med school application stand out with a solid research experience? Look no further! Our latest episode offers a treasure trove of insights on why research is a non-negotiable for aspiring doctors and how to snag that coveted white coat. We're breaking down the various research avenues—from the nitty-gritty of lab work to the front lines of clinical research. Hear personal stories of how to snag some top-notch tips on approaching professors and securing those positions that will make your application shine.
Transform your summer break into an experience where you can spark curiosity around a question you may have while taking a major step toward getting into medical school. This episode isn't just about padding your resume—it's about creating and building new skills that can shape your future. You'll learn the art of networking with mentors and discover how to foster relationships that could lead to discoveries to help others, new career paths, potential publications, and glowing letters of recommendation. So, if you're ready to turn your pre-med journey into an adventure of learning and growth, let this episode be your guide to the experiences that matter.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Jasmine Weiss (00:00):
So everyone talks about research, but why do
you need it?
What does it really mean?
Well, on this episode of theB-MED podcast, we're gonna share
more about what it means to doresearch and why you, as a
pre-med, need it as you proceedto medical school.
Let's jump right in.
So, if you are a pre-medstudent, you're trying to figure
(00:36):
out what it means to doresearch.
Why is it important?
It's important to do a researchexperience because it shows
medical schools that you sawsomething that you were curious
about.
You saw a problem that youwanted to solve and ultimately,
you found a team of people whowere working to solve that
problem and you were able toconnect with them.
(00:56):
So research is important toshow your curiosity to medical
schools and to really show thatyou're interested in pursuing
Scientific knowledge and helpingto grow our knowledge in the
scientific community.
So what types of researchexperiences can you do?
There are so many opportunitiesfor you.
If you're considering research,let's talk about the one that
(01:18):
everyone thinks of, which isbasic science research or
research in a lab.
This is an exciting opportunityto explore something that you
may not have ever pursued before.
So for me, when I was anundergrad, I had the opportunity
to go to Johns Hopkins to do asummer internship, thinking
about the lungs and how we canlook at the Water channels and
(01:40):
how water flows in and out ofthe lungs and an asthma patient.
Well, someone say that's unique.
How did you even come up withthat?
Well, for me, that was aproblem I wanted to solve
because I personally have asthma.
So I've always wanted to knowmore about how does it actually
work?
How does the disease of asthmaimpact individuals in their
lungs?
So for me, this was a problem Iwas interested in.
(02:03):
It was a personal problem forme and I wanted to be a part of
a team that was solving thatproblem.
So in basic science labs youcan get a lot of different
experiences.
You can work with animal models, which I had the opportunity to
do, working with mouse modelsto help kind of Dysect their
lungs and use that as a part ofthe research experience.
(02:24):
Some people do things wherethey're working with cells and
growing the cells or culturingthe cells and learning all of
the different Scientifictechniques that come along with
working in a research lab.
So basic science is one way youcan do research, but there is
another way that a lot of peopleare not familiar with, which is
clinical research.
(02:44):
What is clinical research?
If you're interacting withpatients to help figure out how
diseases are impacting them andwhat Interventions can help
solve those problems forpatients, that's a clinical
research experience.
So imagine if you're at aclinic that's helping a group of
patients who have knee injuriesLearn how to recover from the
(03:06):
injuries.
You may be a part of collectingdata from the patients or
Collecting data from theprocedure that's done to see if
a procedure helped them with theinjury.
There's so many differentopportunities for clinical
research Because there's so manydiseases and illnesses that
impact everyone.
So if you're looking for anopportunity to actually connect
(03:26):
with patients, then clinicalresearch may be for you.
Next up is community-basedresearch, or even population
health research.
You probably didn't know this,but there are types of
scientists and individuals whoare studying how entire
Populations are doing and howtheir health is going.
So you may be a person whowants to think big picture and
(03:47):
think globally about how ourhealth is impacted, so a
population health researchexperience may be for you.
So that's basic scienceresearch, clinical research,
population health research and,of course, there's community
research, where you can actuallyhelp study things that happen
in individual communities.
Lastly, there are socialsciences or sociology related
(04:10):
research Experiences, and thoserelate to how people interact
and engage with one another.
Now, those are just a few types.
There are so many moreopportunities, so we're also
going to jump into how do you goabout Getting your own research
experience, to make sure thatyou not only get to solve and
think about a problem thatexcites you, but you also think
(04:30):
about what medical schools arelooking for as they look at
applicants when you are goingthrough the journey.
So how do you go about getting aresearch experience?
The first thing I want you todo is think about the student
organizations at your campus,and I want you to ask some of
the people who are a little bitahead of you what have they done
to think about researchexperiences?
(04:50):
Because there are types ofexperiences that may be going on
right on your campus, at youruniversity, that you can tap
right into and be involved whileyou're in your spring or fall
semester.
So be sure to ask your peersaround you if they are familiar
with any opportunities.
The next thing I want you to dois ask the faculty members and
(05:11):
your professors of your classesif they are aware of any
opportunities or if theythemselves have any research
going on and need anundergraduate student to help
them as they are pursuing theproblems that they would like to
solve.
So when it comes to approachingyour professor, most students
would just send an email and say, hey, I'm interested in
(05:32):
research, do you have any?
That is the wrong thing to do.
Here's what you should do.
You should go to theprofessor's website or on your
university website, look up yourprofessor and see what topics
they're already doing researchon.
I want you to research thosetopics and then figure out does
this first even excite you?
(05:52):
Is this something you'reinterested in enough to actually
reach out to the professor?
Next, you should look up thosespecific articles, if they have
any.
All you got to do is go togooglescholarcom and then type
the article name in and read thesummary or the abstract.
Now you'll see more about whatexactly they do and how they do
it.
(06:13):
With all of that backgroundinformation, then I want you to
email your professor.
Most students would just say,hey, here's what I need.
Please let me know if you haveany opportunities available.
Again, that is the wrong thingto do.
I want you to actuallyincorporate what you learned
from your research about theprofessor and talk about the
(06:33):
topic that they're interested inand how that excites you.
When you send this email, besure to say who you are, what
you want to do and ask them forsome time to see if you can have
a conversation about joiningtheir lab or getting a research
opportunity during the semesterthat you're in school with them.
If they don't answer, that isokay.
(06:55):
Remember they may get a lot ofdifferent emails from a lot of
students.
Most students would give up.
That's not what we do.
You should have three or fourprofessors you want to email to
make sure, even if one doesn'trespond, you can find out more
information from the otherprofessors that you may have,
even if they don't have anopportunity for you.
(07:16):
Some again would just say I'mnot going to worry about it,
they didn't have something forme.
I want you to follow up and askdo they know of any other
professors who have researchopportunities available for
students?
Again, it's being persistentand consistent with the email
correspondence between you andyour professor.
That'll make sure they know howinterested you are and how
(07:38):
serious you are about learningabout the research experiences
on your campus that areavailable.
So I've talked a lot about whatto do if you're looking for an
opportunity on campus at youruniversity, but there are also
opportunities outside of youruniversity that occur in summer
programs that I want you to beaware of Now.
This takes starting early, solisten to me clearly, you must
(08:01):
start early if you are lookingfor an internship opportunity
over the summer.
The time is early winter and alot of the deadlines are coming
up faster than you think, so Iwant you to go to good old
Google and type in researchopportunities in whatever state
or medical school researchopportunities.
Be creative with your Googlesearch and you will find a long
(08:24):
list of summer programs thathave research experiences
attached to them.
A lot of times, you have towrite a personal statement when
you're applying to theseopportunities, so make sure you
write that statement and havesomeone else read it,
specifically if you have aprofessor that can review your
material or if there's a writingoffice that will look over your
personal statement for you atyour university.
(08:46):
Next, I want to make sure youhave your CV ready, because they
may ask you what experiencesand extra curriculars you have
had already, and they may evenask you for a transcript.
A few things to remember, someof these opportunities are
actually paid opportunities.
So if you're balancing or ifyou need a job over the summer
to make sure you build up yourfinances, you may be able to
(09:08):
satisfy that same thing bygetting a summer program or a
summer research experience.
So here's what to expect.
These opportunities are veryexciting and they move pretty
quickly.
If you get accepted into aresearch opportunity, you may
get to live in a place that younever thought you may live in.
So for me, that was living inBaltimore for a summer.
(09:29):
It was exciting.
I get to meet other people whowere at similar stages in
college, from all over thecountry, and it made the
experience that much greater andthat much better.
I want you to be sure tointeract with the lab professor
or the person who's running theresearch experience for you.
Sometimes that person is calledthe principal investigator.
(09:50):
I want you to interact withyour PI, ask them what the
expectations are for you duringthe summer program and, most
importantly, ask them what thedeliverable is going to be.
Are they expecting you to helpthem write a publication, which
is the best thing for you,because you get the opportunity
and you get to share in theoutcome and share that with
(10:12):
others.
Do they expect you to presentat a poster presentation or a
conference?
Just make sure you're fullyaware of what they expect from
you so you know that in thebeginning and you can put your
best foot forward.
Of course, I'm going to mentionthe small things, like be on
time, make sure you'reenthusiastic in the clinic or in
the lab that you're in and makesure that you're showing them
(10:34):
that you're excited about theopportunity and you're doing
your background homework to makesure that you're actually doing
a great job.
These are the perfectindividuals to get letters of
recommendation from when thetime comes to apply to med
school.
So take this internshipopportunity very, very seriously
.
I learned so much from myopportunity and it sent me to
(10:56):
multiple conferences and evenhelped me to be a part of a
publication when I was a collegestudent during my summer
internship experience.
So I want that same thing foryou.
So make sure that you applyearly and apply broadly.
Don't just pick one or twoprograms and hope you're going
to get in.
Pick and see if there are fiveprograms you can apply to or ten
(11:16):
programs you can apply to, andsee how you can repurpose your
personal statement and reusethat information as you apply to
different programs.
And last but not least, rememberI want you to keep this
relationship warm, whether it'san experience on your campus or
it's a summer program.
Try to build rapport with theprincipal investigator or the
(11:37):
faculty member you're workingwith, because again in a year or
two you may be going to thosesame individuals for letters of
recommendation.
So I want you to keep in touchwith them, even if it's a brief
summer program.
Send them an email every fewmonths just to let them know how
you're doing, ask them how theresearch is going that you've
helped them with over the summer.
(11:57):
It's the same concept if youdid an experience on your
university's campus.
Maybe you work with them two orthree times a week for a whole
semester and you're done.
But make sure you send thememails and ask them how the
research is going and providethem updates, because they know
that they've had the time tobuild a relationship with you
and they can be the best personto help you write letters when
(12:19):
it's time for your medicalschool applications.
So I hope you've learned alittle bit about why it's
important to get an internshipopportunity or a summer program
to help you not only learn aboutthe problems you want to solve
and that you're curious about,but to also show your curiosity
to medical schools when it'stime to apply.
So I don't want you to justlisten to this video.
(12:41):
I want you to actually takeaction.
Think about the steps it willtake for you to get your summer
program experience, or the stepsto get into a lab right now at
your university.
I want you to think about yourfuture right now, so that you
can have a successful summer andbe able to build up your resume
as you pursue medical school.
Remember to like, comment andsubscribe to BlackMed Connect
(13:05):
and until next time, alwaysremember to dream without limits
.
So everyone talks about research, but why do
you need it?
What does it really mean?
Well, on this episode of theB-MED podcast, we're gonna share
more about what it means to doresearch and why you, as a
pre-med, need it as you proceedto medical school.
Let's jump right in.
So, if you are a pre-medstudent, you're trying to figure
(00:36):
out what it means to doresearch.
Why is it important?
It's important to do a researchexperience because it shows
medical schools that you sawsomething that you were curious
about.
You saw a problem that youwanted to solve and ultimately,
you found a team of people whowere working to solve that
problem and you were able toconnect with them.
(00:56):
So research is important toshow your curiosity to medical
schools and to really show thatyou're interested in pursuing
Scientific knowledge and helpingto grow our knowledge in the
scientific community.
So what types of researchexperiences can you do?
There are so many opportunitiesfor you.
If you're considering research,let's talk about the one that
(01:18):
everyone thinks of, which isbasic science research or
research in a lab.
This is an exciting opportunityto explore something that you
may not have ever pursued before.
So for me, when I was anundergrad, I had the opportunity
to go to Johns Hopkins to do asummer internship, thinking
about the lungs and how we canlook at the Water channels and
(01:40):
how water flows in and out ofthe lungs and an asthma patient.
Well, someone say that's unique.
How did you even come up withthat?
Well, for me, that was aproblem I wanted to solve
because I personally have asthma.
So I've always wanted to knowmore about how does it actually
work?
How does the disease of asthmaimpact individuals in their
lungs?
So for me, this was a problem Iwas interested in.
(02:03):
It was a personal problem forme and I wanted to be a part of
a team that was solving thatproblem.
So in basic science labs youcan get a lot of different
experiences.
You can work with animal models, which I had the opportunity to
do, working with mouse modelsto help kind of Dysect their
lungs and use that as a part ofthe research experience.
(02:24):
Some people do things wherethey're working with cells and
growing the cells or culturingthe cells and learning all of
the different Scientifictechniques that come along with
working in a research lab.
So basic science is one way youcan do research, but there is
another way that a lot of peopleare not familiar with, which is
clinical research.
(02:44):
What is clinical research?
If you're interacting withpatients to help figure out how
diseases are impacting them andwhat Interventions can help
solve those problems forpatients, that's a clinical
research experience.
So imagine if you're at aclinic that's helping a group of
patients who have knee injuriesLearn how to recover from the
(03:06):
injuries.
You may be a part of collectingdata from the patients or
Collecting data from theprocedure that's done to see if
a procedure helped them with theinjury.
There's so many differentopportunities for clinical
research Because there's so manydiseases and illnesses that
impact everyone.
So if you're looking for anopportunity to actually connect
(03:26):
with patients, then clinicalresearch may be for you.
Next up is community-basedresearch, or even population
health research.
You probably didn't know this,but there are types of
scientists and individuals whoare studying how entire
Populations are doing and howtheir health is going.
So you may be a person whowants to think big picture and
(03:47):
think globally about how ourhealth is impacted, so a
population health researchexperience may be for you.
So that's basic scienceresearch, clinical research,
population health research and,of course, there's community
research, where you can actuallyhelp study things that happen
in individual communities.
Lastly, there are socialsciences or sociology related
(04:10):
research Experiences, and thoserelate to how people interact
and engage with one another.
Now, those are just a few types.
There are so many moreopportunities, so we're also
going to jump into how do you goabout Getting your own research
experience, to make sure thatyou not only get to solve and
think about a problem thatexcites you, but you also think
(04:30):
about what medical schools arelooking for as they look at
applicants when you are goingthrough the journey.
So how do you go about getting aresearch experience?
The first thing I want you todo is think about the student
organizations at your campus,and I want you to ask some of
the people who are a little bitahead of you what have they done
to think about researchexperiences?
(04:50):
Because there are types ofexperiences that may be going on
right on your campus, at youruniversity, that you can tap
right into and be involved whileyou're in your spring or fall
semester.
So be sure to ask your peersaround you if they are familiar
with any opportunities.
The next thing I want you to dois ask the faculty members and
(05:11):
your professors of your classesif they are aware of any
opportunities or if theythemselves have any research
going on and need anundergraduate student to help
them as they are pursuing theproblems that they would like to
solve.
So when it comes to approachingyour professor, most students
would just send an email and say, hey, I'm interested in
(05:32):
research, do you have any?
That is the wrong thing to do.
Here's what you should do.
You should go to theprofessor's website or on your
university website, look up yourprofessor and see what topics
they're already doing researchon.
I want you to research thosetopics and then figure out does
this first even excite you?
(05:52):
Is this something you'reinterested in enough to actually
reach out to the professor?
Next, you should look up thosespecific articles, if they have
any.
All you got to do is go togooglescholarcom and then type
the article name in and read thesummary or the abstract.
Now you'll see more about whatexactly they do and how they do
it.
(06:13):
With all of that backgroundinformation, then I want you to
email your professor.
Most students would just say,hey, here's what I need.
Please let me know if you haveany opportunities available.
Again, that is the wrong thingto do.
I want you to actuallyincorporate what you learned
from your research about theprofessor and talk about the
(06:33):
topic that they're interested inand how that excites you.
When you send this email, besure to say who you are, what
you want to do and ask them forsome time to see if you can have
a conversation about joiningtheir lab or getting a research
opportunity during the semesterthat you're in school with them.
If they don't answer, that isokay.
(06:55):
Remember they may get a lot ofdifferent emails from a lot of
students.
Most students would give up.
That's not what we do.
You should have three or fourprofessors you want to email to
make sure, even if one doesn'trespond, you can find out more
information from the otherprofessors that you may have,
even if they don't have anopportunity for you.
(07:16):
Some again would just say I'mnot going to worry about it,
they didn't have something forme.
I want you to follow up and askdo they know of any other
professors who have researchopportunities available for
students?
Again, it's being persistentand consistent with the email
correspondence between you andyour professor.
That'll make sure they know howinterested you are and how
(07:38):
serious you are about learningabout the research experiences
on your campus that areavailable.
So I've talked a lot about whatto do if you're looking for an
opportunity on campus at youruniversity, but there are also
opportunities outside of youruniversity that occur in summer
programs that I want you to beaware of Now.
This takes starting early, solisten to me clearly, you must
(08:01):
start early if you are lookingfor an internship opportunity
over the summer.
The time is early winter and alot of the deadlines are coming
up faster than you think, so Iwant you to go to good old
Google and type in researchopportunities in whatever state
or medical school researchopportunities.
Be creative with your Googlesearch and you will find a long
(08:24):
list of summer programs thathave research experiences
attached to them.
A lot of times, you have towrite a personal statement when
you're applying to theseopportunities, so make sure you
write that statement and havesomeone else read it,
specifically if you have aprofessor that can review your
material or if there's a writingoffice that will look over your
personal statement for you atyour university.
(08:46):
Next, I want to make sure youhave your CV ready, because they
may ask you what experiencesand extra curriculars you have
had already, and they may evenask you for a transcript.
A few things to remember, someof these opportunities are
actually paid opportunities.
So if you're balancing or ifyou need a job over the summer
to make sure you build up yourfinances, you may be able to
(09:08):
satisfy that same thing bygetting a summer program or a
summer research experience.
So here's what to expect.
These opportunities are veryexciting and they move pretty
quickly.
If you get accepted into aresearch opportunity, you may
get to live in a place that younever thought you may live in.
So for me, that was living inBaltimore for a summer.
(09:29):
It was exciting.
I get to meet other people whowere at similar stages in
college, from all over thecountry, and it made the
experience that much greater andthat much better.
I want you to be sure tointeract with the lab professor
or the person who's running theresearch experience for you.
Sometimes that person is calledthe principal investigator.
(09:50):
I want you to interact withyour PI, ask them what the
expectations are for you duringthe summer program and, most
importantly, ask them what thedeliverable is going to be.
Are they expecting you to helpthem write a publication, which
is the best thing for you,because you get the opportunity
and you get to share in theoutcome and share that with
(10:12):
others.
Do they expect you to presentat a poster presentation or a
conference?
Just make sure you're fullyaware of what they expect from
you so you know that in thebeginning and you can put your
best foot forward.
Of course, I'm going to mentionthe small things, like be on
time, make sure you'reenthusiastic in the clinic or in
the lab that you're in and makesure that you're showing them
(10:34):
that you're excited about theopportunity and you're doing
your background homework to makesure that you're actually doing
a great job.
These are the perfectindividuals to get letters of
recommendation from when thetime comes to apply to med
school.
So take this internshipopportunity very, very seriously
.
I learned so much from myopportunity and it sent me to
(10:56):
multiple conferences and evenhelped me to be a part of a
publication when I was a collegestudent during my summer
internship experience.
So I want that same thing foryou.
So make sure that you applyearly and apply broadly.
Don't just pick one or twoprograms and hope you're going
to get in.
Pick and see if there are fiveprograms you can apply to or ten
(11:16):
programs you can apply to, andsee how you can repurpose your
personal statement and reusethat information as you apply to
different programs.
And last but not least, rememberI want you to keep this
relationship warm, whether it'san experience on your campus or
it's a summer program.
Try to build rapport with theprincipal investigator or the
(11:37):
faculty member you're workingwith, because again in a year or
two you may be going to thosesame individuals for letters of
recommendation.
So I want you to keep in touchwith them, even if it's a brief
summer program.
Send them an email every fewmonths just to let them know how
you're doing, ask them how theresearch is going that you've
helped them with over the summer.
(11:57):
It's the same concept if youdid an experience on your
university's campus.
Maybe you work with them two orthree times a week for a whole
semester and you're done.
But make sure you send thememails and ask them how the
research is going and providethem updates, because they know
that they've had the time tobuild a relationship with you
and they can be the best personto help you write letters when
(12:19):
it's time for your medicalschool applications.
So I hope you've learned alittle bit about why it's
important to get an internshipopportunity or a summer program
to help you not only learn aboutthe problems you want to solve
and that you're curious about,but to also show your curiosity
to medical schools when it'stime to apply.
So I don't want you to justlisten to this video.
(12:41):
I want you to actually takeaction.
Think about the steps it willtake for you to get your summer
program experience, or the stepsto get into a lab right now at
your university.
I want you to think about yourfuture right now, so that you
can have a successful summer andbe able to build up your resume
as you pursue medical school.
Remember to like, comment andsubscribe to BlackMed Connect
(13:05):
and until next time, alwaysremember to dream without limits
.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.