Scholarly Activity
The Scholarly Activity provides students with the opportunity to explore all facets of academic scholarship & research under the direction of a faculty mentor. All medical students, apart from MSTP students and students engaged in year-out research programs, are required to complete the Scholarly Activity. The Scholarly Activity spans all four years of medical school.
The Learning Objectives for the Scholarly Activity are:
- Demonstrate the ability to formulate a specific question or hypothesis based on a critical review & analysis of the literature on a scholarly topic.
- Demonstrate the ability to develop a scholarly project with appropriate methods to address the question/hypothesis.
- Demonstrate the ability to work effectively with a faculty mentor &, if appropriate, other members of a research team.
- Demonstrate the ability to synthesize & present the results of a scholarly project.
To meet these objectives, students select a scholarly project and faculty mentor and identify the goals and objectives. Over the course of Scholarly Activity, students must meet 3 benchmarks:
1) formulation of a question/hypothesis, selection of a mentor, and submission of a project proposal;
2) submission of a project progress report, and
3) submission of a final report written in the format of a manuscript which is due no later than April 1 of the MS4 year.
Students are encouraged to work with a faculty mentor at the regional campus to which they are assigned, however, students may elect to work with a mentor at another campus or at another institution depending upon their interests. In addition to meeting the 3 benchmarks of the scholarly activity, each student is required to complete training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) as part of the course entitled “Introduction to the Scholarly Activity”.