Research Opportunities

TUSOM students have plenty of opportunities available for getting involved in research. The most important step in the process is to connect with a faculty mentor. This page is designed to help you do that! Generally speaking, the best time to focus on a research project is during the summer between your T1 & T2 year, since you have plenty of time to do so. However, you can get involved with research at any time during your medical education. 

If you are a T1, and would like to get involved in summer research IN NEW ORLEANS, please check out these funded opportunities:

• ASPIRE
• DeBakey Scholars Program

If you are a T1, and would like to get involved in summer research ELSEWHERE, please see "Summer Opportunities" on this page.

If you are a T2 or above, and would like to get involved in research, please see "Basic/Bench Research," "Clinical/Translational Research," "Population/Public Health Research," or "Call for Student Researchers" on this page. 

Students interested in basic/bench research should contact Dr. Diane Blake for more information.

More information on research conducted in these areas can be found here.

Student must watch the following video prior to seeking a clinical/translational research opportunity

Students interested in clinical/translational research should consult the list of recommended faculty mentors below. Please contact the faculty member in charge of the project you are interested in directly. Contact Dr. Vivian Fonseca for more information. 

More information on research conducted in these areas can be found here. A list of recommended faculty mentors and their areas of research is also available here. 

Students interested in the Ph.D./MD program should contact Dr. James Robinson for more information.

More information on this program can be found here.

Students interested in population and public health research should contact Dr. Tonette Krousel-Wood for more information.

If you are interested in the MD/MPH program’s research opportunities, more information can be found here.

If you are interested in completing the MD/MPH program, more information can be found here.

This section contains contact information SPECIFICALLY seeking student researchers. If you are a faculty researcher who would like to advertise for a student researcher, please email Dr. Katrina D’Aquin.

(UPDATED 7/29/20)

Temporary Opportunity for Laboratory Personnel

to support the

University’s COVID-19 Testing Program

The volume of the return to work/school tests is resulting in a short term (6 week) push to get all the needed testing completed.

Help out, get paid, and get some valuable professional experience in a state-of-the art laboratory.

This opportunity is to work in the COVID-19 Testing lab of the

School of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine’s Molecular Pathology Laboratory.

Location: Downtown Campus

Shifts available 6-7 days a week between 6am and 12:30am (midnight)

Overtime pay for evening, late shifts and weekends.

Need to fill shifts will last for approximately 6 weeks.

Training will be provided.

Lab Technicians with experience with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or other molecular biology skills are a plus.

If interested, contact Catherine Downs at cdowns1@tulane.edu.

(UPDATED 5/7/20)

Dr. Metzinger is looking for students interested in ophthalmology research to assist with a retrospective study in the field. Please contact her at rmetzing@tulane.edu or Rebecca.metzinger@va.gov for more details.

(UPDATED 4/21/20)

Medical students in the Bix lab have an opportunity to conduct basic and translational research focused on understanding the pathophysiology of and developing novel therapies for ischemic stroke, vascular dementia, pediatric traumatic brain injury and sars-CoV-2 infection and neuroinflammation. The lab takes advantage of both in vitro (cell culture) and in vivo (rodent and non-human primate) models to translate and reverse translate innovate therapies. 

Contact Dr. Bix if you are interested in pursuing this research. 

> (UPDATED 9/5/19) All of Us Research Study: Tulane University has been selected to be a site for the All of Us research study. This multi-site, five-year NIH study will recruit a million patients, the largest ever proposed! Students who want to participate will need to complete CITI training, and will receive basic training in research practices and customer service. The role of the the students will be to go to our high volume clinics and remind the clinicians there about it, and also talk to patients in the waiting rooms or help them win the CTU with answering questions they may have about the online video. There will be no opportunity to collaborate on a paper for involvement, but students will be able to add this experience to their CV, highlighting the unique nature of the largest NIH study to date. If you are interested, please contact Roberta McDuffie to arrange for an interview.

• The AAMC maintains a database including both funded and unfunded clinical and research experiences, which can last for the summer or throughout a year.

• (ADDED 6/4/2020) Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  Annual Quoc C. Le, MD, PhD Memorial Award
  Summer Research Program for Medical Students
  This yearly award was established by Dr. Alvin Wong
  in remembrance of his friend and colleague, the late
  Quoc Cuong Le, MD, PhD (11/21/64—5/1/96). Dr.
  Le received his BS from Tulane in 1986 and both his
  MD and PhD from Tulane School of Medicine in
  1992.
  This award is intended to provide stipend support to
  T1 or other Tulane medical students interested in
  pursuing research in the Department of Biochemistry
  and Molecular Biology, under the supervision of a departmental faculty
  member over the summer.
  Interested students should review our faculty webpage to see the areas of
  research that are available:
  (https://medicine.tulane.edu/departments/biochemistry-molecularbiology/
  faculty).
  To apply, please email your resume and a cover letter describing your
  research interests to Mr. Gilbert Estrada at implant@tulane.edu no later
  than Monday, June 15th.
  This award is limited to registered Tulane medical students and is for
  Summer 2020.
  The recipient(s) will be required to provide a 1-2 page summary of work
  performed and any results that were achieved. This summary will be
  shared with our generous donor.
• The AAMC maintains a database including both funded and unfunded clinical and research experiences, which can last for the summer or throughout a year.
• The Warren R. Bourgeois, III, MD and Usha Ramadhyani Bourgeois, MD Student Research Endowed Fund is a generous endowment which provides support each year to one or two first year medical students for a summer research experience in the Department of Physiology. The donation provides, but is not limited to, stipends, grants, and assistance with conference attendance, travel and other expenses related to the recipients’ research experience. This research experience for medical students brings to the student a potential dual career in research as well as medicine. It reveals to the student they can be involved both in the healing of a patient and in the process of finding cures. For more information, please contact Dr. L. Gabriel Navar, Professor and Chairman, Department of Physiology, SL-8639, 504.988.5251.
• The DeBakey Scholars Program offers medical students the opportunity to pursue and complete a longitudinal structured, closely supervised research experience culminating in a capstone presentation prior to graduation. Limited summer funding is available for projects and students who qualify. More information on this program can be found here.

Many professional societies provide competitive grant funding for research. The links below should take you directly to the grant pages for the societies listed:

• Administration for Community Living
• American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
• Amercian Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
• American Academy of Dermatology
• American Academy of Neurology
• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
• American Association of Neurological Surgeons
• Rheumatology Research Foundation
• American Heart Association
• American Psychiatric Association
• American Roetgen Ray Society
• American Society for Dermatologic Surgery
• American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
• Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research
• American Society of Clinical Oncology
• The Plastic Surgery Foundation
• American Thoracic Society
• American Urological Association
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• College of American Pathologists
• Endocrine Society
• National Cancer Institute
• National Eye Institute
• National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
• National Hemophilia Foundation
• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
• National Institutes of Health
• National Institute on Aging
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
• National Organization for Rare Disorders
• Radiological Society of North America
• Society for Investigative Dermatology
• The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
• American Physician Scientists Association

A helpful resource when writing grant applications is the "How to Apply" guide by the NIH. You can link into this resource here

Wondering where you can present your research? Click on our calendar of professional conferences to see when a relevant conference may be happening! (Links to conference information are provided.)

Additionally, see our Student Publication Venue guide for inspiration on where to publish.

• DeBakey Student Publications
• MD/PhD Student Publications
• MD/MPH Student Publications

• Current Tulane Research 
• Tulane Faculty & Research Database NOTE: Link only works when connected through Tulane internet.

• Tulane University Office of Research
• Matas Library
• Resources for Researchers

• ARE YOU CONDUCTING HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH

  AND NEED ASSISTANCE WITH THE INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD?

   

  Assistance in navigating the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Tulane is now available to faculty members in the School of Medicine, courtesy of the Office of Research.

   

  INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) NAVIGATORS CAN ASSIST YOU WITH:

• General guidance on the Tulane IRB and the necessary steps to get approval for human subjects research
• Specific guidance on the preparation and submission of:
  
  • Initial submissions for new projects
  • Informed consent and HIPAA documents for new projects
  • Amendments/revisions, adverse event reports, and continuing reviews for existing projects
• Assistance in navigating IRBManager, the online platform used to manage IRB submissions at Tulane
• Assistance in IRB submissions for studies that involve multiple research institutions and/or off-site research
• General questions and resources related to IRB

• CONTACT INFORMATION:

  If your study has an external sponsor, please contact Olayinka Idowu at oidowu@tulane.edu or 504-988-6834

  If your study is investigator-initiated, funded by NIH, or lacks funding for IRB assistance, please contact Mya Sherman at msherman1@tulane.edu or 504-988-4644