Research Opportunities

Research, scholarly pursuits, clinical and service experiences are an important aspect of any medical student’s training.

Medical students may conduct scholarly activity at any time during their training. However, the summer after the first year of medical school is an ideal time to engage in these activities.

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine maintains a database of current research, scholarly, clinical and service opportunities that students can refer to at any time. The list includes positions at the University of Cincinnati, other local programs, as well as programs nationwide. Listings include both summer programs and year-long opportunities and are divided into Internal (UC/CCHMC) Research and External Research options. Other resources available to students interested in research and scholarly activity include:

• Identifying a research mentor provides medical students with additional information on potential faculty mentors based on areas of interest.  Individual faculty pictures can then be highlighted to provide additional details, including contact information.
• The UC Research Directory allows users to enter keywords or search for UC experts based on last name, grant funding, or type of studies conducted.
• The Medical Scientist Training Program also maintains a list of UCCOM/CCHMC faculty and their research projects.
• Medical students can also identify researchers with active research support through NIH Reporter using Cincinnati as the search term in the “City” field. This approach only identifies researchers with active NIH research support and does not include non-US government, foundation, private, or industry-sponsored grants or funding.
• Identifying a scholarly project provides 2018 summer research projects as examples, as well as a brief description of student expectations, learning objectives, and the availability of a stipend.

Additional information can be found on the Office of Research page including research portfolios for all COM departments.

Summer Opportunities Week in November

Summer Opportunities Week includes several events that provide first-year students the chance to identify where their own research and service interests lie. First-year medical students hear from program directors, potential mentors, and service program directors highlighting a variety of local research and service opportunities. Later in the week, a peer mentor panel shares information, advice, and details about their own research and service experiences. 

**The 2021 Summer Opportunities Week will be comprised of virtual events**

The slides from the 2020 Introduction to Summer Opportunities presentation are available here.

2020 Projects recognized for Outstanding Merit:

Basic Science Research - Giselle Scarano

Clinical Medicine Research - Yannan Huang

Clinical Surgical Research - Siddhant Tripathi

Service Research - Vivien Sauer

Translational Research - D Shu

Other Research - Sarah Dempsey

Research and Service Symposium

The annual Research and Service Symposium is co-sponsored by the Internal Medicine Interest Group and the Office of Student Affairs. It provides an opportunity for second-year medical students to showcase and present their summer research and service experience while allowing first-year medical students and the College of Medicine community to learn about what they have done.

• UC poster template 1
• UC poster template 2
• UC poster template 3
• Children's poster template

2021 Poster Presentation Guidelines and Kaltura Instructions

• 2021 Research and Service Symposium Abstract Instructions
• 2021 Judges' Rubric
• For additional questions about the Research and Service Symposium, contact the Internal Medicine Interest Group.

Abstracts must be submitted online before September 26th at 11:59pm using this link/form. You will be required to include your ORCID number in the abstract submission. 

Posters (PowerPoint and Audio presentation) must be uploaded before October 17th at 11:59pm via Kaltura.  Utilize Kaltura Video Capture Instructions to upload and record presentations.

4th Year Research Electives

MED 280362 - Basic & Clinical Research for Medical Students - allows students to conduct basic science, clinical, or translational research projects under the mentorship of an established research faculty at UC (including CCHMC) for a minimum of 4 weeks.  The course director is James E. Heubi MD, and the administrative support person is Sandra Geideman.

MED 280357 - Advanced Mentor Basic & Clinical Research - allows MD/PhD students to conduct basic science, clinical, or translational research projects with a mentor with whom s/he has already developed a relationship as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP).  The course director is Robert (Rocky) Ellis MD, and the administrative support person is Jenny Rindler Fridrich.