Translational and Molecular
Medicine Pathway
Why Choose the Pathway?
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Do your own translational research for your capstone project. Faculty in 4 focus areas will provide individual guidance.
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Learn lab skills and data analysis. More hands on than clinical research. Skills apply to research in every specialty.
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Network with UM faculty and students doing research. Join a research team where you are a valued colleague.
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Hone your communication skills: Gain valuable experience in writing research proposals, publications, creating posters and presenting at conferences and symposia.
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Get funded through a Summer U-SOAR Scholarship ($2000!): award prioritizes basic and translational research projects.
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See how translational and basic science research drive major advances in medicine.
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Gain a deeper understanding of foundations of medicine that will help you understand the latest developments beyond medical school and in continuing education.
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Helps residency applications: Translational/Basic research is meaningful on residency applications. Publications are higher impact and valuable.
About the Pathway
The Scholarly Pathway in Translational and Molecular Medicine offers training in biomedical research to generate a capstone project, opportunity to enhance your suitability for residency programs, and experience to keep you abreast of advances in your medical specialty and to evaluate those advances critically even after graduation. To do this, the pathway taps into the expertise of a broad range of faculty in the basic sciences whose research programs include collaborative translational projects involving rigorous research at the cellular and molecular level. The pathway seeks to arm you with tools that will prepare you for a lifetime of clinical practice and continuing education at the cutting edge of biomedical science.
Trainees begin their journey in the pathway with a common in-depth introduction to research methods, during which they identify faculty mentors and projects that align with their interests, followed by mentor- and area-specific lectures and research. A typical focus area curriculum can be viewed here. Working closely with the mentor, each student spends 8 weeks during the summer learning and applying sophisticated approaches to cutting edge biomedical problems with the aim of producing original research that can be presented at the annual Eastern Student Research Forum (ESRF) in Miami and be included in a publication. In addition to having regular meetings with a mentor, students learn critical evaluation of research in journal clubs and meetings with other faculty and students.
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The Focus Areas
The pathway is comprised of 4 focus areas that are sponsored by a group of departments at UMMSM. The focus areas work together to enrich the research experience, offer rigorous, individualized training, and provide unique opportunities for collaboration. Last year, students in the pathway applied for and received UMMSOM's SOAR awards, which include $2000 financial aid for summer research. On other pages of this site, reached by clicking the bullet points below or disciplines in the header at the top, the focus areas each describe active areas of research and possibilities for scholarship that students in the pathway may pursue. Contact information is on the following pages.