The Research Experience During Residency
Many Research Opportunities Are Available at Brown:
Brown is an outstanding academic institution with many research opportunities for interested residents. Our research faculty members are accessible and enjoy mentoring residents. Our goal is to help interested residents learn about and participate in research activities and to tailor research experiences to each resident's interests and goals. A research training experience during residency can greatly enhance one's training and learning experience. It can also help residents meet their future career goals, whether these goals focus on research or other academic activities.
The outstanding research faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior are highly productive and have over $52,000,000 (as of 2005-2006) sponsored research (this includes research awarded directly to Brown and departmental faculty in the seven affiliated hospitals. In addition to the Department’s historical strength in clinical and psychosocial research on mental illness and addictions, the Department has substantially increased research activity in biological bases of behavior and psychopathology. Ongoing research in the Department covers a very broad range of topics. Much of the research is interdisciplinary, encompassing psychiatrists and psychologists within the Department, as well as collaborations with pediatricians, primary care physicians, neuroscientists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, educators, epidemiologists, and economists outside the Department.
Because of this high level of research activity, there are many opportunities for residents to get involved in research projects. Brown’s excellent faculty are renowned not only for their research and other scholarly activities, but also for their collaborative spirit, accesÂsibility to trainees, and dedication to research mentoring.
A research experience is optional, and it can be a large or small part of a resident’s training at Brown. In collaboration with a research mentor, residents can participate in ongoing projects or initiate their own research project. A research elective is available during the PGY-4 year, which provides additional time for research. Residents may also attend a regularly held resident research seminar, journal clubs, research meetings in their mentor’s laboratory, or other seminars in the Brown University community that are relevant to their research interests. Residents are supported in carrying out and completing their project, and they are encouraged to publish their work and present their findings at local and national meetings.
Residency Research Track:
An optional research track has been developed for the Brown University Psychiatry Residency to give interested residents increased opportunities to develop their research interests during their training. Residents increase their involvement in the research track with each successive year. Residents may also pursue research interests without participating in this track.
The time-line for participating in research during residency is flexible and is tailored to meet each resident's goals. For those who wish to participate in the research track, the following are suggested activities and a suggested time-line (although some residents choose a more accelerated time line).
PGY-1
Toward the end of the PGY-1 year, research mentors are selected for residents interested in participating in the research track. Residents are matched with a research mentor through meeting with the Residency Training Director for Research, meeting with faculty, understanding the resident's interests and goals, and the resident's becoming more familiar with the various projects being conducted in the Department.
PGY-2
Residents meet on a regular basis with their selected research mentor, and they begin the process of developing a suitable research project. During this year, they attend a regularly held resident research seminar. This seminar is attended by residents on the research track and other residents who would like to attend. The research seminar is overseen by the Residency Training Director for Research, with the participation of additional faculty. The seminar covers a broad range of topics relevant to doing research. It includes didactic topics (for example, selecting a research topic, study design, ethics, writing a manuscript for publication) and career development issues. It also provides a forum for residents to discuss their research ideas and projects. Residents also attend a weekly journal club that is conducted by faculty at Rhode Island Hospital. They may attend additional meetings in their mentor’s laboratory or other seminars in the Brown University community. For example, the Brown Brain Science Program sponsors a seminar series.
PGY-3
Residents continue to work with their mentor on their research project(s). They may use one afternoon a week for research that the non-research track residents devote to their longitudinal outpatient clinic. Residents on the research track also continue to attend the resident research seminar, journal club, and other relevant meetings and seminars. In addition, they are encouraged to participate in relevant national research mentoring activities. They are also encouraged to present a poster at the Department's annual research day and at a national meeting.
PGY-4
Residents use a portion of their elective time to continue working on their research. They continue to attend the above-noted seminars and meetings plus an additional journal club, and they give a presentation of their work at the resident research seminar (they can also do this during the PGY-2 or PGY-3 year). They are encouraged to participate in relevant national research mentoring activities. Residents prepare a poster presentation based on the results of the project(s) they conducted during the PGY-3 and PGY-4 years, and they are encouraged to present this poster at the department's annual research day and at a national meeting (this may also be done earlier in their training). Residents are also encouraged to write up their results for publication in a journal, in collaboration with their faculty mentor (this, too, may occur in earlier years). For those residents for whom it would be appropriate, there is an additional opportunity to attend the seminar series for federally funded research fellowships offered at Brown (see next section).
Post-Residency Research Fellowships at Brown:
Residents who are interested in a research career are encouraged to apply for a position in a Brown University postdoctoral research fellowship, which provides additional research training after residency to further prepare for a research career. There are currently eight federally funded research training fellowships at the medical school that are affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. These consist of NIH-funded research fellowships in geriatric psychiatry and dementia, treatment research, child mental health, child and adolescent biobehavioral HIV research, cardiovascular behavioral medicine, and cancer. In addition, the Brown Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies sponsors an NIAAA-funded fellowship in alcohol treatment and early intervention research and a NIDA-funded post-doctoral research fellowship on substance abuse intervention outcome research.
Additional Information on Research Opportunities at Brown:
For additional information about research opportunities in the Brown community, please visit these sites:
General information on faculty research and on the core infrastructure.
The Brain Science Program at Brown University
Searchable database of faculty research at Brown (you can search by name, or area of interest).
Searchable database of externally funded grants at Brown (requires Brown access)