Formal Research Mentorship of Medical Students in Radiation Oncology: A 15-Year Experience

Abstract

<h3>Purpose/Objective(s)</h3> At our institution, students receive formal research mentorship by radiation oncology faculty mentors through structured research programs, such as the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) and radiation oncology research elective, as well as in extracurricular research time. In this analysis, we report the research productivity of students who engaged in formal radiation oncology mentorship over the past 15 years. <h3>Materials/Methods</h3> We compiled a database of all publications, consisting of abstracts (including oral and poster presentations) and manuscripts, co-authored by 58 students from 2005 to 2020. We searched radiation oncology faculty curriculum vitae as well as PubMed to identify publications with student authors. The means, medians, ranges, and interquartile ranges (IQR) of co-authorships and first authorships were calculated for the overall cohort and compared for male versus female students as well as students who matched into radiation oncology and those who matched into other fields. <h3>Results</h3> Among all 58 students, 106 unique abstracts and 70 unique manuscripts were identified. Of the 58 students, 54 (93.1%) published at least one abstract or manuscript. The mean number of abstract co-authorships per student was 3.07 (median 2, range 0-25, IQR 0-4), and the mean number of manuscript co-authorships per student was 2.22 (median 1, range 0-18, IQR 1-3). There were no significant differences in research output between male and female students. However, the students who matched into radiation oncology published more co-author manuscripts (mean 3.67, median 3, IQR 1-5) than those who matched into other fields (mean 1.63, median 1, IQR 1-2), <i>P</i> = 0.014. They also published more first-author manuscripts (mean 1.62, median 2, IQR 0-3) than those who matched into other fields (mean 0.53, median 0, IQR 0-1), <i>P</i> = 0.006. Among the 51 students who have graduated, the top three specialties that students matched into were radiation oncology with 21 (41.2%) students, internal medicine with 9 (17.6%) students, and radiology with 6 (11.8%) students. <h3>Conclusion</h3> In this 15-year analysis, students mentored by radiation oncology faculty are successful with high research productivity. The results of this analysis lay the groundwork for further implementation of formal medical student research mentorship programs, which will in turn allow for more research on the benefits of mentorship. Further research is warranted to assess whether skills gained from student-directed research translate into residency and beyond.