Fellowship Research Activities

All fellows are expected to develop and engage in a hypotheses-driven research project or in projects of substantive scholarly exploration and analyses that require critical thinking. Areas in which scholarly activity may be pursued include, but are not limited to:

• Basic, Clinical, or Translational Biomedicine
• Health Services
• Quality Improvement
• Bioethics
• Education
• Public Policy

Fellows must gather and analyze data, derive and defend conclusions, place conclusions in the context of what is known or not known about a specific area of inquiry, and present their work in oral and written form to the Department of Pediatrics' Scholarship Oversight Committee (PSOC). Scholarly activity for all fellows in the Department is evaluated by the PSOC, as recommended by the American Board of Pediatrics, as well as program directors and project faculty. Mentors and other faculty specialist(s) are invited on an ad hoc basis to assist in the evaluations and counseling of fellows.

As part of their preparations, all Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellows participate in the Introduction to Clinical Statistical Course which includes two full weeks of classroom discussion including assignments, statistic textbooks, and access to statistical software including SPSS, Sigma Stat and Sigma Plot. Research mentors also tutor residents in the application of study design and statistics related to their individual research projects.

General Guidelines and Timetable for Research Activities

During the first year, up to 7 blocks of the fellowship are devoted to: (1) reviewing potential research projects within the Division of Neonatology/Department of Pediatrics and the medical school/health science center and (2) formalizing initiation of the selected project. Fellows are required to identify a mentor, propose an initial project hypothesis, and begin developing the basic research skills and knowledge required for successful implementation of this research project. These general activities also include composing and defending a research protocol and beginning a research project in the last two quarters of the year.

The non-clinical blocks (7.0 — 9.25) per academic year are utilized to focus on the assigned research project(s). During the second year, data acquisition and analysis under the guidance of the research mentor should be completed and the material is expected to be submitted for an abstract presentation at regional and/or national meetings (e.g. American Academy of Pediatrics, Society of Pediatric Research). The blocks of research time in the third year are used to further refine the analysis of the data, additional data presentation for the fall and spring meetings and concurrently prepare and submit the research manuscript for publication. Upon the judgment of the program director and division chief, fellows are encouraged to submit the results of their research projects at trainee and/or junior faculty regional and national research competitions.