IRs-in-training By Timothy M. Cooke, MD


Five essentials to IR research as a medical student


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n the modern era of pass/fail medical school curricula and United States Medical Licensing Examination exams, research involvement has emerged as one of the most effective methods to increase competitiveness for residency. The benefits of research go beyond just adding publications to your CV; with research comes an opportunity to demonstrate commitment to IR and connect you with potential letter writers, both of which are among the most important factors considered during residency selection. From 2018 to 2024, the mean number of abstracts, presentations and publications by matched IR MD applicants nearly doubled from 8.4 to 15.8. At the very least, this change signifies an ever- increasing baseline for what it means to be a “competitive” IR applicant.


The purpose of this article is to detail five action items you can implement to set you up for success in research throughout medical school.


1 Mentorship The most important thing you


can do as a medical student researcher is to find a good mentor. Unless you are a non-traditional medical student with a PhD who is already plugged into a lab with tons of experience, then chances are you will need someone to show you the ins and outs of research in medicine. This is particularly true for IR research, because medical students get virtually no exposure to IR during medical school. Therefore, an IR research mentor would help you understand not only the basics of research, but also the basics of IR.


But what should you look for in a “good” research mentor? First and foremost is a history of frequent publication, which can be found with a quick search on PubMed. An extra bonus would be if that


14 IRQ | SUMMER 2025


mentor has a history of publishing with medical students. Not all attendings at academic institutions publish often, and not all attendings want to work intimately with medical students.


How do you find a mentor like that? Upperclassmen planning on applying into IR or those who have recently matched in IR from your school are your best resource; they will tell you who the right people are in your institution or elsewhere. Before reaching out to a potential mentor, make sure you do diligence to know about their research.


2 Tools of the trade The skills you will need largely


depend on your role on the research team. As a medical student, most likely you will be reviewing charts and


literature, writing manuscripts and completing statistical analyses.


Most data collection from a chart review will be documented in an Excel spreadsheet, so become familiar with Excel and how to properly input data points. Spend time with your mentor to properly structure your database before conducting chart review or else you might have to recollect data later. With regards to literature review and writing manuscripts, it is absolutely essential that you use a citation manager such as Endnote or Zotero. This will help you organize all the articles you read and makes formatting citations in the manuscript easier. See if your school provides a subscription to a citation manager and watch a video on how to integrate it with programs like Word.


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