Medical Student Publications While in Medical School

The current ultra competitiveness for dermatology residency positions has motivated many medical students with outstanding academic credentials to engage in research while in medical school and attempt to publish their results before submitting their ERAS application. What barriers do medical students encounter in this process? A recent publication by Chakraborti et al, “Identifying barriers to successful research during medical school,” surveyed 422 members of medical student organizations ( http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/med/article/view/med.2012.e2/pdf ) . Their findings were that mentorship, student funding and having someone in charge of student research were important factors for successful publication. Surprisingly, course offerings in research were not a factor. This may explain why medical students working with the UTMB Department of Dermatology often publish dermatology research while in medical school. Our dermatology department has multiple faculty and residents who have a strong interest and a proven track record in scholarly publication. They are all very accessible to medical students and have the experience and funding available to support student projects through publication.