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 8/12/21)

Hello,

I'd like to make you aware of the ISCC-PEG Scholars Program as an excellent opportunity for trainees and students with an interest in genetics/genomics and education.  ISCC-PEG is an NHGRI committee focused on healthcare provider genomics education (genome.gov/iscc).  Members collaborate to identify educational needs and potential solutions, share best practices in educational approaches and develop educational resources.  Membership includes over 180 representatives from societies, professional organizations, NIH institutes, industry as well as individuals with expertise in medical education.

ISCC-PEG has implemented a Scholars Program which is in its second year after selecting four Scholars in 2020. In the Program, a student or trainee, appointed for two years, can work on a project with an ISCC-PEG member, participate in committee conference calls and have travel reimbursed to attend the annual ISCC-PEG annual meeting.  We expect to hold the 2022 ISCC-PEG Annual Meeting in-person, but if necessary, we can alternatively offer the meeting remotely, as was necessary in 2021 due to the pandemic. The Annual Meeting is a great opportunity for a student or trainee to gain exposure to the broader genomics community and experts in the field. Please note, travel to the ISCC-PEG meeting is the only financial component of the Scholar?s Program.

I'm hoping you can spread the word to others through our organization who may have interested students or trainees.  Visit the ISCC-PEG website for more information (https://www.genome.gov/careers-training/Professional-Development-Programs/ISCC-PEG-Scholars-Program) along with the online application (Due September 1, 2021).  Note that participants must be eligible to work in the United States as NHGRI will not sponsor visas or international travel.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Donna Messersmith and Rich Haspel
Co-Chairs
Inter-Society Coordinating Committee for Practitioner Education in Genomics (ISCC-PEG)

(UPDATED 7/15/21)

Announcing the Annual Karl Jaspers Award:

The Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (AAPP) announces its annual competition for students and trainees. Eligibility for the Jaspers Award, given for the best paper in the area of philosophy of psychiatry, includes medical students, graduate students in philosophy, psychology and related fields, and residents and fellows in psychiatry. Please see the full announcement here: Jaspers Award | aapp (jhu.edu).

Please share this among your student communities.

All the best,

Scott

G. Scott Waterman, M.D., M.A.

Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus

University of Vermont

(802) 373-3995

(UPDATED 11/30/20)

Dear Careers in Medicine Colleagues,

The Careers in Medicine team has launched an updated Clinical & Research Opportunities database with a new look and feel.

This tool allows learners to search for clinical and research experiences offered in the summer or year-round, and filter by desired specialty or topic.

We have streamlined these filters and improved the search and sorting features to be more user friendly.

The redesigned tool is also mobile friendly and continues to be accessible without sign-in.

We hope you will share this improved resource with your students. Please direct feedback or questions to careersinmedicine@aamc.org.

Full URL to the Clinical & Research Opportunities database here: https://apps.aamc.org/cim-cr-web/#/user

• 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 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

See our Student Publication Venue guide for inspiration on where to publish.

Added 6/10/21

Added 2/24/2021

Dear Medical Student Educators,

I want to share this information regarding a student-led initiative called The Lens. The Lens is a weekly ophthalmology research newsletter that summarizes key research updates in the field from high impact journals in an easily digestible and accessible format. It is free and only requires an email to sign up. It is a great resource for medical students interested in ophthalmology to increase knowledge and engagement in the field. Please share with your respective ophthalmology interest groups and cohorts of students who are interested in the field.

Here are a few key links that may be helpful as background:

• The Lens website
• HTML version of a recent newsletter
• Sign up link

Please feel free to reach out to the co-founders at thelens@lensophthalmology.com for more information.

Thank you,

Ari Kaplan

Ariane Kaplan, M.D.

Assistant Clinical Professor

Departmental OR Medical Director

Medical Student Clerkship Director

Kellogg Eye Center

University of Michigan

Select Recent Tulane University School of Medicine Student Publications

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

  • Sabol, R. A., A. Beighley, P. Giacomelli, R. M. Wise, M. A. A. Harrison, B. A. O'Donnnell, B. N. Sullivan, J. D. Lampenfeld, M. D. Matossian, M. R. Bratton, G. Wang, B. M. Collins-Burow, M. E. Burow and B. A. Bunnell (2019). "Obesity-Altered Adipose Stem Cells Promote ER⁺ Breast Cancer Metastasis through Estrogen Independent Pathways." Int J Mol Sci 20(6).

  • /sites/medicine.tulane.edu/files/Ophthalmology Times.pdf

• Responsible Conduct of Research Fall 2021 Seminar Series
• 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