Pediatric Residency Research
Dates and Deadlines:
Program
Important

Fall of PGY1: Research Fair*

January 1st (New Year) of PGY1: Mentor selection*

March 21st (1st Day of Spring) of PGY1: submission of Step One*

Memorial
Day
of
PGY1:
submission
of
Primary
Outcomes
measures*

September 23rd (1st day of Autumn) of PGY2: submission of Step
Two*

Thanksgiving and Memorial Day of PGY2 and PGY3 (for those
PGY3s who have not presented their research at Residents
Research Day in May): submission of Work-in-Progress*

March 21st of PGY3 (or PGY 2 if the project is completed):
submission of Research Day Abstract* (please follow abstract
instructions below)

April 21st: PowerPoint template of poster.

Research Day May of PGY 3 (or PGY2 if project is completed):
Final Step*
Faculty will assist residents accomplish above milestone by active
mentorship and supervision throughout their residency training.
In an effort to meet the varying scholarly activity interests, needs,
and capabilities of individual residents, projects may involve any of
the following areas:


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


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basic or clinical research
translational research
health services
quality improvement
bioethics
education
public policy
epidemiological studies


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case series (not case reports)
Quality improvement (QI) projects of the scope that merits
publication will count towards resident scholarly activity.
However, if the QI projects apply only to local practices and
cannot be generalized and published they could not count as
resident scholarly activity.
In addition, examples of acceptable activities might include a
critical meta-analysis of the literature, a systematic review of
clinical practice, a critical analysis of public policy, or a
curriculum development project with an assessment component.
During residency, all trainees will complete their CITI training and
receive specific education in research and quality improvement
methodology, project development and data management.
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Research Fair: established for PGY-1 residents and designed to introduce
research opportunities within the department. This informal session will
take place in the Fall of PGY-1 training and will serve as an open forum
where residents will be able to interact with faculty and discuss
possible research interests/topics. It is our goal that this session
will familiarize the PGY-1 residents with faculty interests and stimulate
them to think about their own research questions.
Mentor Selection: a written declaration submitted by the resident to the
Research Director listing their selected Mentor. Residents who do not
have a mentor selected will be asked to provide a ranking list of
potential mentors and associated projects. Mentors will submit a list
of available projects and residents they would like to mentor. The
results of the match will be announced by the end of January.
Step One: a written declaration submitted by the resident to the Research
Director listing their research topic selection, and is due in the winter
of their first year (by March 21st). This declaration should be endorsed
by the chosen mentor who from then on assumes responsibility for
mentoring the resident.
Step Two: a written narrative by the resident, with guidance by the
mentor, describing the project plan in details, according to the IRBbased outline (attached) which will be evaluated by their peers (senior
and junior faculty members). The peer review process will provide formal
opinion about the project to the authors and will strengthen the IRB
application/or research process. This step is due by the beginning of
PGY2 year.
Work in Progress: Residents will give brief periodic updates (power
point) to their peers, mentors and faculty and receive feedback and
assistance with their project execution that may involve the IRB
application, data collection, data analysis, etc. These updates will be
scheduled by the Resident Research Director.
Primary Outcomes measures: PGY1 residents will submit their specific key
measurement(s) or observation(s) that will be used to measure the effect
of experimental variables in their planned study, or for observational
studies; to describe patterns of diseases or traits or associations with
exposures, risk factors or treatment. By that time it is expected that
residents would have formulated a research question, searched for the
best evidence in the literature, and critically appraised the existing
evidence, and discussed all those steps with their mentor. Please note
the primary outcome is different than study aim(s). Examples of primary
outcomes (dependent variable) may include: pediatrician knowledge
(measured by tests, or questionnaires), serum/urine levels of
biomarkers, mortality, weight/height/BMI, prevalence of disease,
severity of condition, etc.
Research Day Abstract: word limit to 250 (not including names and
affiliation), with either one table or one figure (optional), not to
exceed one page total limit. Please follow the instructions below to
submit an abstract:
1. The abstract should be an MS Word document typed single-spaced using
10 point type. The abstract's title should be typed in CAPITAL LETTERS
and should clearly represent the nature of the investigation. The title
should be followed in lowercase letters by the author's first and last
names, degree, and affiliation (if different from our department).
Underline the primary author's name (one primary author per abstract).
Do not leave spaces between the title and the body of the abstract, or
between paragraphs. The abstract file should be saved as: primary
authors' last name_first word in the title (e.g., Zucker_Effects).
2. Please ensure that your abstract is the correct length and use 1"
margins.
3. Use of standard abbreviations is desirable (e.g., RBC) as well as
standard symbols for units of measure (e.g., kg, gm, mg, mL, L, and %).
Place a special or unusual abbreviation in parentheses after the full
word the first time that it appears. Use numerals to indicate numbers
except to begin sentences. Do not need to use subtitles (e.g., Methods,
Results).
4. Simple tables or graphs may be included; however, they must fit within
the designated abstract space of one page.
5. Please use Times New Roman as the font.
Body of the Abstract: organize the body of the abstract as follows:
•
Statement of the purpose of the study/program/project;
•
Statement of the methods used;
•
Summary of the results presented in sufficient detail to support
the conclusion;
•
Statement of the conclusions reached.
Final Step: the presentation of the “final” scholarly activity product
in the form of oral and/or poster presentation at Pediatrics Research
Day. In addition, it is expected that all residents will submit their
work to a local/ regional/national meeting, or participate in a
manuscript submission.
Other Important Notes:
Resident Advisor is different than their Research Mentor (see below)
Mentor-Mentee: all prospective mentors list with their active IRB
projects, publications and current funding are on file at the Department
and available to all residents at any time. In general mentors are
advised to avoid having more than two mentees unless they can fulfill
their obligations of effective mentoring, as it is recognized that some
mentors may have more mentees and have more projects than others, and
that some projects are more complex than others. All mentors are
encouraged to share their mentoring experience with all faculty during
the research or WIP meetings.
Project/research sharing: the project and authorship sharing could be
allowed as long as residents formulate different research questions, and
contribute equally in the project that shares common database/methods,
etc. Those projects that address multiple questions on the same topic
typically could be pulled into one manuscript with co-authorship.
Resident Advisor: All residents will select an advisor at the beginning
of their first year who is different than their Research Mentor. The
Advisor role is more of “person to go to”, to discuss anything, career
choices, research mentor choices, peers interactions, evaluations,
etc.(see advisor documentation) Resident Advisors will be informed about
the progress of Resident Scholarly Activities by both Resident Research
Director and the resident.
Research Curriculum Lectures and Sessions, along with faculty Research
Seminars and Research Interests (compiled by Marian Evinger, PhD) are
listed in separate attachments.