The Medical Student Summer Research Program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston: building research foundations

ABSTRACT

Background: Interest in incorporating research into the medical school curriculum has grown over the years. One of the challenges involved with providing research to medical students is developing programs that allow a large number of students to perform research. This involves securing faculty to mentor students in the design of research projects. In order to accommodate students with research interests, well-established research programs must be implemented.

Objective: This article describes the design and implementation of a curriculum-based research program for medical students at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. The main objective of this article is to describe the program for the purpose of assisting other medical schools to develop a similar student research program.

Design: At UTMB we established a Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) that occurred between the first year and the second year of medical school. Between the years 2000–2017, MSSRP accommodated a minimum of 39 and a maximum of 90 students during an 8 week period. Two surveys were conducted to collect students’ views on how MSSRP affected their interest in research. We performed a proportion statistical analysis on the data from both surveys in order to determine the significance of the responses.

Results: The benefit of MSSRP is that it provided medical students with an exposure to research. According to the proportions test, the responses were statistically significant with 85% of 26 third and fourth year students stating they would continue to incorporate research into their medical careers; 75% stating that MSSRP increased their interest in research; and 85% responding that MSSRP helped them to understand research methodology.

Conclusions: MSSRP is a curriculum-based program that provides a framework to other medical institutions interested in the development of similar student research programs and provides students the exposure and option to continue with research as a component of their medical profession.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical student summer research program
• curriculum-based research programs
• medical education
• physician scientist careers
• medical student research training opportunities

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Driana Urbina the program coordinator of MSSRP for her efficiency in coordinating the program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston over the years, and Dr. Julian N. Holland, III, Senior Statistician and Quantitative Biologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for expert consultation on statistical analysis. The authors would also like to acknowledge Clemmie J. White-Matthews, Editor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for the editorial review of this manuscript, and the UTMB faculty and departments for generously providing funds to support MSSRP poster award recipients for many years.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.