Core Curriculum

Research

The ability to evaluate and conduct research is an integral component of a successful academic career. To this end, palliative medicine fellows may participate in a focused research curriculum that includes both a longitudinal mentored research project and didactic research seminars. Fellows interested in a career as a clinical investigator apply to Mount Sinai’s Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP).

The CRTP program offers either a certificate or a Master of Science in Clinical Research with additional coursework. Fellows begin the CRTP curriculum during their palliative medicine clinical year and can stay at Mount Sinai for one or more eyars to begin their research career and obtain their master's degree. Fellows meet with the Program Director prior to the application deadline for the CRTP program to begin exploring their research interests, to develop a suitable research project, to identify an appropriate research mentor, and to prepare an application to the CRTP program.

Fellows refine their analytic and research skills in a monthly seminar devoted to an evidence-based journal club and a research in progress meeting. These seminars allow fellows to critically examine published research and provide a forum for fellows to present their ongoing research, including problems that may arise, and to discuss statistical and analytic issues related to their research. This seminar focuses several sessions on preparing research for presentation and publication.

Research Project

Fellows with a career interest in academic research who choose to stay for one or more additional research years develop a research project as described above and identify a research mentor. The mentor and program leadership assist the fellow in the conduct and analysis of the project during the period which is allocated for research. Fellows work with their mentors to conceptualize and design their project in concert with their didactic class work. By the completion of the penultimate year of training, fellows are expected to have completed their project proposal and received IRB approval in order to begin collecting data during the research year. Thus, the year of research time is exclusively devoted to data collection, analysis, and preparation for presentation and publication. The goals of the protected research time include: to allow fellows to develop the knowledge and skills to design and conduct a successful research project, to gain experience in the conduct of an actual study with the assistance of a senior mentor, to present and publish the results, and to develop pilot data for a subsequent project proposal to an appropriate funding agency.