Mentor for MSR Projects

Postdoctoral Scholars as Mentors for Medical Student Research Projects

The Offices of Medical Student Research and Postdoctoral Affairs have launched a new program to create medical student research (MSR) projects while aiding the professional development of COM postdoctoral scholars. The goal of this initiative is to help train postdocs to be research supervisors and acquire mentoring experience. Postdoc participation in this program will require the written consent of the postdoc’s faculty supervisor.

Backgound:

All COM medical students are required to perform a mentored research project. These students are very intelligent and highly motivated, but generally do not have an extensive research background. As such, having a postdoctoral fellow acting as their primary mentor is a very good match, because medical students would be in the laboratory together every day with their mentor.

For detailed information, or to submit an MSR project, visit the MSR website:

https://students.med.psu.edu/md-students/medical-student-research/

Important information:

  • Training will be provided to the postdoc that includes designing an MSR project that is attractive and feasible for the student, practicing communication skills that make a good mentor, and developing realistic expectations of the student and themselves in the mentor-mentee relationship. Training will take less than 10 hours of time away from the laboratory over the next 6 months.
  • The faculty PI of the postdoc’s laboratory will be involved in the general oversight and scope of the MSR, and responsible for financial support. Medical students are eligible for up to 10 weeks of federal work-study support during the summer that covers 75% of their salary. The remaining 25% salary generally comes from department resources. Application for work study support must be done by the faculty PI, through their department.
  • Most medical students perform the majority of their MSR projects during the summer between their first and second year, when there are no other demands on their time. The students have begun to look for projects for next summer, so we need to have potential projects available for them by the end of December.