Research

2008 Summer Medical Research Program

Link to Application

Apply Now for 2008 Summer Research

The Office of the Medical Dean will again provide funds to support medical students engaged in research projects with UT Health Science Center at San Antonio faculty during the 2008 summer break. Summer stipends will be awarded for 5-8 weeks of full-time research in an amount equal to $250.00 per week. The 2008 application can be accessed by using the link above. The scroll bar can be used to locate program guidelines below.

Application Deadline:

The application requires signature by both the medical student and his/her faculty mentor. The online application must be completed in its entirety. Student applicants and their mentor are responsible for providing the 2008 online application to the School of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Research (Room 367L) by close of business on Friday, March 21, 2008.

Funding Sources:

Since the 1993-94 academic years, funds available through the Medical Dean’s Office have been augmented by funds from Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital through its Research Service, the Biomedical Research Foundation of South Texas, Inc and the Department of Surgery. This year additional funds are available for up to five students engaged in neuroscience summer research through a grant awarded to Dr. Peter Fox, Director of the Research Imaging Center.

  • Students seeking to identify mentors within the VA system may contact Dr. Peter C. Melby (telephone: 567-4614; email melby@uthscsa.edu).
  • Students seeking to identify mentors for Neuroscience research may contact Dr. Peter T. Fox (telephone: 567-8150; email: fox@uthscsa.edu).

 

Funding History:

The Dean of the School of Medicine and the leadership of these organizations are committed to encouraging medical students to become more knowledgeable about the research process and current research issues. Since 2002, over 100 students have received stipend awards totaling over $150,000.

Previously Awarded Stipends:

Stipends have been awarded for projects that have typically involved a range of clinical, translational and applied research areas. You can use the link to listings of awardees from past years to get an idea of the types of projects that have been awarded funds and the faculty mentors who have worked with students.

Mentors:

Students interested in obtaining a summer stipend are advised to contact a faculty member with whom they would like to work. Faculty research profiles can be found on the Faculty Mentor List page, which includes the facultys' research interest descriptions and it is searchable by key words. Use the e-CV search engine (http://inside.uthscsa.edu) for searching faculty descriptions of expertise, research publications and grant titles. Faculty research interests are also shown at individual department websites.

Human Subjects Research Issues for Medical Students :

All research involving human subjects, specimens or records is governed by federal regulations to protect subjects and their privacy. These regulations apply to medical students and their projects. Some regulations are specific to the investigator or other individual conducting research while others apply to the research project itself. These issues should be discussed with faculty mentors at the earliest opportunity but well before commencement of a research project.

Selection Criteria:

It is a goal of the program to fund as many applicants as possible but the process is competitive. While prior research experience is not a requirement, an applicant is strongly advised to provide a personal statement and project description which clearly and adequately describe themselves and their project.

Selection is based on several factors, chief among these being the merit of the proposed project as indicated by the quality of the research proposal. Other criteria include: student commitment to research as indicated in the personal statement and mentor research experience as indicated by publications and research funding. Proposals not recommended for funding tend to exhibit common flaws: the lack of a testable hypothesis, inappropriate or no comparative groups, and mentors lacking in demonstrated experience in the area of investigation.

Selection of awardees is made by a panel of investigators and representatives of the funding sources with the approval of the School of Medicine Deans Executive Council. Their decision will be announced to all applicants and mentors by mid-April. Acceptance of funding commits the stipend recipient to presenting a research poster at Medical Student Research Day.

2008 Program Guidelines

  1. Regardless of source, acceptance of funding from the Medical Dean’s Office commits stipend recipients to presenting a research poster at Medical Student Research Day which is tentatively scheduled.
  2. Students are not eligible to be considered for a summer stipend if their summer activities (whether research or clinical) are funded through other sources.
  3. The maximum amount available to any student will be $2,000. This amount is based on an expected eight (8) weeks of full-time research activity. A period of time less than eight weeks will be pro-rated at $250.00 per week. The number of weeks indicated on the application should be determined based on discussions between the student and faculty mentor prior to submission of the application.
  4. Academic Standing. To be eligible for this award, students must be enrolled in UT Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Medicine and in good standing. Students engaged in summer projects or other research should understand that their first priority is the attainment of the MD degree. Since students who have sustained failing grades may be required to engage in some type of remediation during the summer break in order to continue on to the next year, they should carefully consider whether they can meet the demands of both the remediation and a summer research project. Students who have sustained a failing grade and wish to participate in summer research should therefore notify the Associate Dean for Research of their situation and be prepared to present a detailed plan for completing both the research project as well as the remediation. Approval of this plan by the Associate Dean for Research and the Associate Dean for Student Affairs will be required upon announcement of the stipend award and prior to starting the research project.
  5. An application form may contain the name of only one student applicant.
  6. Students working for the same faculty mentor must be engaged in clearly distinct projects that will result in a research poster reflecting each student’s separate involvement.
  7. Stipends are awarded solely to benefit the student and are not intended to pay for departmental or faculty expenses related to the research project.
  8. Student applicants are responsible for providing the completed 2008 online Application to the School of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Research (Room 367L) by close of business on Friday, March 21, 2008.