UNM HSC School of Medicine

Undergraduate Medical Education

Medical Student Required Research

(photo credit - David Groth)

Learning to think independently and scientifically when approaching medical problems and developing a personal process for problem solving are important parts of lifelong medical education.

Each medical student at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNM/SOM) is required to actively participate in solving a medical research problem during his or her medical school career.

The educational goal of the required research experience is for each student to learn the importance of and the process behind applying the scientific method to solve health and medical problems, whether in the laboratory, clinic or community.

The research requirement consists of three elements: 1) an experiential component where the student performs either a primary research project or an integrative review; 2) a communication component where the student must orally or in poster format present a medical research topic at a public forum; and 3) a scholarly scientific works component where the student must submit a professional scholarly paper on their primary research project.

The purpose of scholarly research requirement is to:

  1. Learn to apply scientific process and methodology (whether it be laboratory, clinical or community research) to answer an unanswered medical question.
  2. Participate in/or experience the scholarly process.
  3. Participate in a longitudinal activity which asks and answers a pertinent health question.
  4. Write and present to a public forum the scientific results of a scholarly endeavor.
  5. Gain an appreciation for primary research literature that exceeds learning the skills to simply read and interpret it.
  6. Learn how critical thinking leads to new knowledge.
  7. Complete a project that helps to teach independent thinking.
  8. Develop reasoning skills by experiencing the logical process necessary for the completion of a scholarly research project.
  9. Develop professional behavior by meeting all scholarly research requirements in a timely manner.