Letter from the Editor-in-Chief - Medical Science Educator - LIMSC ...

activities. Participation is mandatory, but thestudent selects the pathway that best matcheshis/her career goals. Students who wish to pursueresearch training through the completion of amentored research project select the PhysicianScientist pathway and begin their developmenttowards a career as a clinician scientist in the firstyear of medical school.The structure of the Physician Scientist pathwaycombines monthly core sessions with weeklynoncore time for students to work on researchrelated activities. The monthly core sessions are acombination of large and small group activities.Large group activities are primarily focused onlearning core competencies. Core topics aredescribed in Table 1; topics in the first year focus onpreparation for summer research, while jointly heldsecond and third year sessions focus ondissemination of results from the summer project.As the third year is longer than the second year inlength, sessions specific to third years weredeveloped and include: how to discuss your researchduring the residency match process (session taughtby fourth year former Physician Scientist students)and preparing for research in residency (taught bysuccessful resident researchers).Each monthly core session has a small groupactivity which allows for peer mentoring as well asinteractions with faculty facilitators. Groups of eightto ten first year students meet with one or twofaculty facilitators and two third year PhysicianScientist students. These groups, which remainintact for the entire year, meet monthly. Thestudents practice the skills discussed in the largegroup session with more experienced studentscritiquing work and discussing strategies forpreparing for the summer. Second and third yearstudents have additional small groups with facultyfacilitators; their goal is the completion of datacollection/analysis and dissemination of results inmanuscript form, with the student as either primaryauthor or co-author. Small group activities duringthese two years are focused on studentpresentations and feedback concerning progress.First Year Second/Third Year Specific to Third Year 2Research Ethics(Including on-line certification)Abstract writing and review Research in residency sessions 3Developing a research questionPoster development and presentationEmphasizing scholarly work in theresidency match process 4Conducting a literature searchManuscript writingIntroduction to bibliographic softwareAuthorship criteria(Including discussion of authorshipwith preceptor)Evaluation of oral abstractpresentations 1Critical review of manuscriptsJournal review processScoring abstracts for nationalpresentationEvaluation of oral abstractpresentationsTable 1: Core session topics during three year Physician Scientist pathway1In an interactive audience response session2Additional sessions specific to third year of medical school are required due to additional months in the third year.3Led by residents conducting research.4Led by Fourth year medical students who were in the Physician Scientist pathwayMedical Science Educator © IAMSE 2013 Volume 23(1S) 85