Research Fellowship - General Surgery Residency Training Program ::

Research Fellowship

Guidelines and Recommendations for General Surgery Research Fellowship

Application Process:

All General Surgery categorical residents will prepare for, and participate in, a two-year basic science research fellowship (unless other arrangements have been made and approved by the Program Director, General Surgery Chief and Chairman). The selection of a research laboratory and mentor must be submitted to the General Surgery Chief and Program Director by the start of their PGY2 year or as early in their residency as possible.

The Research Advisory Committee (RAC) includes Drs. Paul Kuo, Jeffrey Lawson, John Olson, Carmelo Milano and R. Duane Davis. The Committee will conduct formal individual meetings between PGY1 residents and members of the RAC to discuss:

o Research/Mentor expectations

o NRSA/Grant writing strategies

o Formal submission of completed grants

External funding (NRSA, T32, etc.) must be adequately prepared and submitted in a timely fashion (must be approved, in advance, by Dr. Kuo). A resident’s inability to secure external funding will be carefully reviewed by the lab mentor, Program Director and General Surgery Chief.

Learning Objectives:

Develop and implement a research project (clinical or basic science)
Basic research principles (study design, performance analysis, reporting)
Basic understanding of statistics and epidemiology
Understand ethical behavior in performance of human and animal research
Successfully and timely submit protocols for approval to IRB/IACUC
Year-end research summary demonstrating oral and visual presentation skills
Acquire basic skills of writing and submitting manuscripts/abstracts
Reads and interprets surgery research literature
Reads literature/text pertinent to management of surgery patients
Actively participates and attends conferences (80% conference attendance required)
Coordinates learning opportunities for fellow residents

Research Training Lab Years

Research Fellow Responsibilities:

While we expect that you will meet often enough with your lab mentor to ensure successful completion of your research project, you are required to meet on a bi-annual basis with your lab mentor to review your performance. The following will be reviewed:

Attendance/lab meetings
Monthly Surgery Research Meeting/Journal Club & Research Presentation
Work Ethic
Basic Laboratory Skills
Research Competency
Communication Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Educational Evaluation
Personal Evaluation

Research Expectations:

The program expects that each research fellow’s project will culminate in at least one manuscript that will be submitted for publication although publication is not required for promotion purposes. The program further expects that the resident will present the finding of his/her research at either a local, regional or national forum.

Prior to the start of your research fellowship, you will submit to the General Surgery Residency Program the following information for your resident portfolio:

o Research Hypothesis

o Draft development of your research plan

o A copy of any research funding application

Research Resident Policy (revised June 6, 2006):

The Division of General Surgery will provide a monetary reward to the top PGY2 entering their research fellowship years if the following criteria are met:

Documented 80% attendance at Wednesday and Thursday conferences when assigned to Duke Hospital and DVAMC rotations
Maintenance of an up-to-date ACGME case log
Achievement of a score on the in-service ABSITE examination of at least the 80th percentile nationally
Acceptable compliance with the requests of faculty in regard to preparation of grant proposals, etc.