Research opportunities for pre-med students

Clinical or basic science research

Clinical research studies patients or their records: trials, chart reviews, surveys and quality improvement projects. Basic science research happens at the bench, with cells, tissue, animal models or molecules, and asks how disease works. Population health sits in between, using large datasets to ask who gets sick and why.

Medical schools do not rank one type above another. Clinical work puts you near patients and physicians. Bench work usually gives you more ownership of experiments and is often the better fit if you are considering an MD-PhD. Pick the question you would still care about after a year of routine tasks.

Where pre-med students find research

Look beyond your biology department. Clinician-scientists on medical school faculty see patients part of the week and run studies the rest, and many have small clinical projects waiting for help. Teaching hospitals run research institutes with their own scientists, summer studentships and staff jobs.

Some researchers are wary of pre-med students who want a line on an application and then leave, so offer at least two terms. Roles open to students and recent graduates include:

• Chart review assistant, pulling data from patient records
• Research assistant, recruiting participants and entering data
• Clinical research coordinator, a paid staff role often held for a year or two after graduation
• Volunteer or research student in a basic science lab

Starting with a chart review

A retrospective chart review asks a question of records that already exist, such as how often a complication followed a particular surgery. It needs no new patients, which is why students are often given one. The work is careful data extraction, with written rules for every judgment call.

You will need human-subjects ethics training before you see patient data. In Canada the TCPS 2 CORE tutorial is free online, and many US universities give students access to CITI Program courses. Finishing one before you email shows you're serious, though the hospital will still require its own privacy training and must add you to the study team before you see any records.

How to talk about research later

Applications give you a short entry for each experience, and interviewers often ask you to explain a project. Be ready to state the question, your exact role, one thing that went wrong and what you learned. Describe your part accurately: if you extracted data, don't imply you designed the study. A supervisor who watched you work for a year can also write a strong letter; see why undergraduate research matters.