The DMD Research Mentor Program was created to allow a greater proportion of our DMD students to benefit during their DMD training from the robust research expertise and scholarly activity in our college. The core of the program is the establishment of one-on-one faculty-student mentoring relationships targeted at guiding the student to better integrate research, critical thinking, and evidence-based approaches to care into their DMD training. Participation in the program is entirely voluntary. Students would identify a mentor from a pool of faculty. Together, the student and faculty member would
design a customized plan to engage the student in research-related discussions or activities.
Faculty Participation
ALL faculty are eligible and encouraged to participate. Diversity in interests is critical.
If you are willing to participate, please send an email to Denise Webb indicating that you would like to be listed as a potential mentor, how many students you might accept, and a short, two-sentence description of your expertise.
Student Participation
The program is initially only offered to DN-1 and DN-2 students, but may be expanded as needed in the future.
Students may leave the program at any time. It is purely voluntary.
Students may change mentors at any time for any reason, such as. to achieve better alignment of research interests with expertise of mentor, to pursue active research in a laboratory or clinical setting, etc.
Students may select potential mentor(s) from a database of mentors that includes faculty research interest area(s) and information.
The Office of Research will track student: mentor pairings. Once established, students and faculty members may arrange a meeting to determine activities for the coming 6 months.
Students are expected to arrange to communicate with their faculty mentor at for least 1 hour per month.
Examples of activities could be:
Students read a research publication or paper then discusses the paper and its relevance to their training and career goals with mentor.
Student views YouTube or similar online presentations followed by a discussion of the material with their mentor.
Faculty or lab members could prepare videos demonstrating techniques that
could be viewed by student mentees.
Students could be invited to attend lab meetings or sit in on sessions where
they discuss their data with their mentor.
Students could provide feedback on papers or posters prepared by research
group members.
Frequently Asked Questions
| Q: I am a 1st or 2nd year DMD student, do I have to participate? | A: Absolutely not. We want students with a burning desire to dive deeper into a research-related question. It will be extra work and time and you should only participate if you are prepared to commit to it. |
| Q: Does my mentor have to be someone who has a funded and/or active research project? | A: No. There are many faculty members who have scholarly interests and are experts on health-related topics who will make excellent mentors. |
| Q: What if I don’t know what type of research interests me? | A: Part of the purpose of the program is to help students find research-related topics about which they are passionate. A mentor can help you do this and, in fact, may direct you to a faculty mentor with more appropriate expertise to continue in the program. |
| Q: Is there any penalty for quitting? | A: No. You may discontinue participation in the program or switch to a new mentor at any time. We only ask that you communicate professionally and openly with your mentor. |
| Q: Will I receive research elective credit for participating? | A: No. This program is purely for personal interest and professional development. |