Student Research Programs in U.S. Medical Schools and Institutions

Abstract

The majority of medical educators agree that scientific education is critical to the development of physician-scientists. However, the proportion of physicians interested or engaged in research has been decreasing. To overcome this deficit of research oriented physicians, many medical schools in the United States have introduced scholarly concentration (SC) programs into their medical curricula since 2000. In contrast, Korea has very few medical schools with such programs. Research programs at American medical schools were surveyed and investigated in order to better design and develop SC programs appropriate for Korean medical schools. Information on SC programs was gathered by reviewing medical school web sites and related articles. The SC programs of Brown Alpert Medical School, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, and Stanford University School of Medicine are discussed in depth. The characteristics of each program were organized into seven parts: program description, administrative structure, orientation, curricular content, mentors and mentoring, student evaluation, and challenges. For a successful SC program in Korea we must consider providing guaranteed time for SC programs with necessary modifications in the core medical curriculum, educating and training of mentors, providing orientation and motivating students to pursue research, developing curricula for SC programs, and evaluating the progress of SC projects.