Research Projects for Medical Students at BUSM

The Enrichment Office at BUSM matches BUMC faculty with research needs with BU medical students who are interested in participating in short- or long-term research. The projects listed below were provided by BUMC faculty members for this purpose. Interested medical students are encouraged to directly contact the mentors listed for more information.

Guidelines for Students:

Medical students are encouraged to read project descriptions carefully and consider their availability and time commitment for projects they choose to pursue.
Once an agreement is reached by the student and mentor to engage in a project, the student should contact Ana Gregory, Enrichment Office.

Faculty Members:

If you are a faculty member who would like to add a project to the list, you may submit it here: Research Project Submission Form. Faculty members with projects on the list that need to be updated or deleted may contact Ana Gregory.

Research Projects (listed by department)

Medicine

Biomedical computer vision

Kidney Functional Reserve

Rare Neurodevelopmental Disease

Education

Embryonic Development

Cancer Mutations

Neurology

Computational and network models of nightmares

Clinical and diagnostic predictors of functional outcome in patients with Traumatic Brain Injury at Boston Medical Center

Ophthalmology

Immunobiology of the retina

Retina Research Projects

Otolaryngology

Many Otolaryngology Projects

Pediatrics

CK-Ready Study

Description of Research Project: We are seeking a Research Assistant to help with the C-K-READY Study. The C-K-READY team is within the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center and Vital Village Networks is implementing a multi-site, cluster randomized trial aimed at evaluating the impact of the group well-child care model of primary care vs. routine care on new babies and mothers. Specifically, Project C-K-READY will explore the impact of care models on child development and school readiness at 12 and 24 months. We will be partnering with several pediatric practices across the United States to conduct thisr esearch study. The principal responsibility of this individual will be to administer a standardized phone questionnaire to participants and engage in recruitment calls. Additional responsibilities include assisting student Research Assistants with recruitment calls, administrative duties related to project implementation, and database entry and management. Requirements:1)Experience in interviewing and/or administering research surveys and protocols.2)Ability to communicate effectively (via telephone).3)Flexibility to work some evenings and weekends is required.Specific duties and requirements are listed below:1)Enrollment of parents into research study.2)Administer standardized research protocol to participantsusing REDCap, our electronic data capture system.3)Maintain electronic and paper files of participants and file systems.4)Participate as research team member with Principal Investigator(s) and study team.Attend team meetings.5)Comply with BUMC Research/HIPAA standards.Time commitment will range from 10-16 hours per week for part-time and 40 hours per week for full-time. Hours will vary. Please send cover letter and resume/CV to Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett; renee.boyntonjarrett@bmc.org
Department: Pediatrics
Contact Person: Renee Boynton-Jarrett (boyntonjarrett@bmc.org)
Specialty(ies) of Research Project: Pediatrics, Public Health, Social Epidemiology
What type of project is this? Clinical Science, Public Health, , Quality Improvement
Website: https://www.vitalvillage.org/projects/c-k-ready
Last updated: 10/12/2021

Psychiatry

Predicting Future Suicidal Behavior Using Implicit Association Testing Administered in the Psychiatric Emergency Department of a Safety Net Hospital

Description of Research Project: For those at risk of harming themselves or taking their own lives, there are limited tools available to assess their level of risk and whether they need to be psychiatrically hospitalized. One reason for this is that risk assessment tools rely on self-report, and often people with suicidal ideas and plans may deny having these thoughts if they fear stigma or fear that they will be prevented from attempting suicide. Implicit Association Testing (IAT) is a computer-based test that has been studied to show the associations people hold, and the strength of these associations can relate to past or future behavior. Specifically, it has been shown that a form of the IAT-the Suicide Implicit Association Test (S-IAT) can measure people’s associations between the “self” and concepts relating to death/dying/suicide and that results of the S-IAT can be related to suicidal behavior. Another form of the IAT-the Self-Injury Implicit Association test (SI-IAT) can measure people’s associations between self and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). We plan to administer the S-IAT and SI-IAT to patients who present to the BMC ED who receive a consultation from psychiatric emergency services and then subsequently follow-up with these patients three months later to note their outcomes after leaving the BMC ED. The S-IAT and SI-IAT scores, survey results, and follow-up results can be analyzed to determine the feasibility of implementing the S-IAT and SI-IAT in the emergency department and see if these IATs can predict future suicidality and suicidal ideation. If so, it would provide further evidence of IAT’s usefulness as a tool for predicting suicide risk and could potentially help clinicians keep at-risk patients safe. In addition, testing the S-IAT and SI-IAT in the diverse population of the BMC ED, with additional questionnaires assessing social determinants of health (SDOH) and discrimination, can show the strength of the correlation between SDOH and suicidal behavior. The student would primarily be responsible for in-person recruitment of patients, consenting patients, and administering the S-IAT, SI-IAT, and questionnaires involved in the baseline study visit. They would also be responsible for reaching out to patients over email and/or phone to administer follow-up surveys. Students may also help with data analysis and writing reports of this project. The emergency department is a 24-hour service, so student’s schedules can be flexible. The student must commit to a minimum of 10-15 hours/week for this project, but most, if not all, of that time would be spent working in person in BMC’s Emergency Department. The student must be comfortable working in an emergency department, talking to people on the phone, and working with patients with psychiatric illnesses. They must also have strong organizational skills, be self-motivated, and capable of working independently. Good communication and interpersonal skills are also required to work with patients. An interest in novel interventions in psychiatry would be preferred. This study will also include Spanish-speaking participants, so fluent Spanish speakers would also be preferred.
Department: Psychiatry
Contact Person: Alison Duncan (duncan@bmc.org)
Specialty(ies) of Research Project: Emergency Psychiatry
What type of project is this? Clinical Science, Public Health, , QI
Last updated: 10/12/2021

Communication Challenges for Parents of Adolescents with ADHD

Assessing the effects of the COVID-19 infection and pandemic restrictions on patients who received psychiatric emergency services at BMC

Radiology