Early Exposure of Medical Students to a Formal Research Program Promotes Successful Scholarship in a Multi-Campus Medical School.

Objectives: Many physicians today struggle to learn the complexities of the biological basis for evidence-based medicine. To bridge this gap, the Medical Scholar Research Pathway Program (MSRPP) founded in 2019 prepares medical students for analytical reasoning and critical thinking while engaging in faculty-mentored research projects in a community-based public medical school.

Methods: MSRPP is an application-based extracurricular research program, designed for novice and experienced medical students. Three distinct pathways offer ample opportunities for pre-clinical and clinical students to participate in research on a flexible schedule. The program director guides students in one-on-one coaching meetings to set achievable goals with their faculty mentor, and plan their research deliverables, considering their interests and residency plans.

Results: We report the implementation of a multi-year and multi-campus research training program for medical students across five campuses. Our results show that five class cohorts (2021-2025) of MSRPP students were twice as likely to seek formal research support than students not in the program. MSRPP students continuously growth their self-confidence to disseminate their research by practicing oral communication in monthly Launch talk research reports and bi-annual research conferences. Moreover, students report they learn technical communication skills and feel inspired to participate in research by interacting with invited faculty seminars. MSRPP students have a significantly higher scholarship output as compared to non-MSRPP students. Early indicators show that students that participate in formal research programs have a measurable difference for matching into competitive residencies.

Conclusions: MSRPP students report that they have gained research competencies and technical skills to establish a baseline to promote their future research engagement. This study provides other peer medical schools with strategies to create the infrastructure to support and promote medical student research.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-02098-6.