MGH McLean

Research for the General Resident

MGH/McLean residents have elective time during PGY2, PGY3 and PGY4 to identify and pursue a substantial academic project.

For Information about our Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP), Click Here.

Overview

While clinical training remains at the core of the MGH / McLean residency experience, the program is increasingly committed to fostering career development and academic pursuits throughout residency training. All residents are encouraged to develop an academic project that can come to fruition during residency, either through presentation at a local, regional, or national meeting (e.g., Harvard Psychiatry Research Day, Harvard Education Day, Senior Talks, the APA annual meeting, Society for Biological Psychiatry, ACNP, etc.) and/or publication in a peer-reviewed journal. To facilitate this, the program will assign interested residents a Research Career Mentor. Residents of all years are also exposed to a broad research curriculum, including community events, opportunities to present their research, journal clubs, didactics, and learning lunches.

research

Research Career Mentors
The Research Career Mentor is a member of the MGH/McLean faculty with research interests similar to the residents but is not working with the resident on any academic projects. Instead the Research Career Mentor is intended to be an unbiased expert to help the resident establish a successful research career. During the neurology and psychiatry months of PGY-1, residents are encouraged to take time to meet with possible mentors on both campuses. Opportunities to meet with the training directors to explore interests and find suitable mentors is readily available.

To learn more about some of the Research Career Mentors, please refer to the Physician Scientist Training Program’s (PSTP) page.

Research Opportunities

All residents have opportunities to pursue their research interests during residency:

  • PGY-1 residents may use some of their elective time to dedicate to research activity.

  • Throughout their time in residency, residents have access to mentorship and guidance from the Associate Program Director for research and scholarship.

  • Residents often present their research during local, regional, and national conferences.

  • All residents have a flexible PGY-4 curriculum allowing for individual design around interests and experiences they want to complete prior to graduation. Many residents carry out academic projects that form the basis for fellowship applications or clinical jobs following residency.

Physician Scientist Training Program

For those residents interested in a career in research, please click here to learn more about our Physician Scientist Training Program.

Funding

Numerous post-residency research fellowships are available to bridge residents to extramural funding (e.g., NIH K award), including the HMS Psychiatry Research fellowships (e.g., Dupont-Warren), Pfizer Neuroscience Fellowship, Picower Institute (MIT) and Stanley Center (Broad) research fellowships, among others. To learn more about funding opportunities for research during and after residency, please see Fellowships after Residency.

Questions?

If you wish to learn more about research opportunities in our residency program, please email Josh Salvi (jsalvi@mgh.harvard.edu) for more information.

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