PM&R Resident Research

Residents work closely with both Clinical Faculty Mentors and Research Faculty Mentors. Dual Mentorship ensures that resident research is patient-centered, methodologically sound and ready to bridge the gap from bench to bedside.

Residents have access to powerful institutional resources, including data analytics, as well as personnel and funding to help them access data, implement research and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.

Residents have the opportunity to present their projects at our annual Theodore Cole Resident Research Day and are encouraged to submit abstracts to national conferences, including AAPM&R.

Six weeks of research are provided so that residents may focus on completing their projects away from clinical duties. These six weeks can be carved from select rotations to enable research time at the point in a project's trajectory where it would be most useful.

The position of Resident Research Lead is awarded annually to a senior resident who has demonstrated a special commitment to advancing the culture of resident research at U of M PM&R. The Resident Research Lead works closely with co-residents and faculty to ensure program quality, provides peer-mentoring to underclassmen and presents at least one research-based lecture during senior year.

• Expanded research mentorship experience designed to support physician-scientist career development activities in addition to standard research project mentorship. This includes mentored support of applications for the AAP’s Rehabilitation Medicine Scientist Training Program as well as the NIH-NINDS’s R25-funded Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program.
• The ultimate goal of the Research Track’s career development support is submission of a competitive NIH K-award within two years of residency graduation.

• The RMSTP application will be submitted in the fall of residents’ PGY-2 year. Selected applicants will attend the RMSTP’s annual Research Career Development Workshop concurrent with the AAP’s annual meeting each spring and participate in additional career development activities concurrent with their phase of the RMSTP program.
• The Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program application will be submitted in the fall of residents’ PGY-3 year, with preparatory activities including letter of intent submission and specific aims development occurring during the PGY-2 year. The NINDS R25 grant application is competitive and undergoes external (national) review. Application for this grant will be mentored and supported but receiving the award is not guaranteed. If the application is not funded, the resident will still have access to the curricular modifications and support for research associated with the research track (80% protected time for research in the final 6 months of residency). Selected applicants will begin receiving modest funding toward research costs during the second half of their PGY-4 year. PGY-4 salary is standard in the ACGME program and not modified by the grant. Up to two additional years of 80% supported research time post-residency is available, which could be carried into a faculty position (contingent on continued meeting of program requirements). 

The U-M PM&R Residency’s Neuroscience Research Track is intended for highly research-motivated applicants with a strong research background who intend to pursue an academic physician-scientist career post-residency.  It is anticipated that the Research Track will only be a good fit for a small percentage of all PM&R Residency applicants but will offer substantial benefits to appropriate applicants.  All applicants selected to interview for the Research track will be excellent candidates for the Standard Track.   

Apply through ERAS, selecting the Neuroscience Research Track.  (Applicants considering both the Neuroscience Research and Standard residency tracks should apply separately to each).  

Additional considerations in assessing candidacy for the research track include:  

Formal training 

• Minimum qualification:  MD or DO degree completion 

• Strong applicant:  advanced research degree completion (PhD, MPH, MS) or alternative non-degree-conferring research fellowship (or similar research experience) completion 

Publications 

• Minimum qualification: at least 2 peer-reviewed research publications (e.g., hypothesis-driven, rigorous qualitative, systematic review/meta-analysis, or similar) addressing a common scientific theme,* with at least 1 as first-author 

• Strong applicant:  6 or more peer-reviewed research publications (as above) addressing a common scientific theme,* with half or more as first-author 

Research funding 

• Minimum qualification: any history of submitting a research-related application (e.g., grant funding, formal research experience or training program, etc.) 

• Strong applicant:  history of successful application for research grant funding 

Other research accomplishments 

• No minimum qualification. 

• Strong applicant:  receipt of research-related award or other recognition (e.g., featured conference abstract) 

Excellent candidacy for general PM&R residency  

* Area of demonstrated research interest must broadly align with the NIH- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke mission to ensure eligibility for the NIH-NINDS’s R25-funded Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program. 

For the Neuroscience research track, the final six months of PGY-4 will comprise 6 months of research. This format is built to accommodate the NINDS-R25 grant, which requires 80% protected research time in the final 6 months of residency. The resident will continue to participate in ½ day didactics and ½ day continuity clinic each week (20% non-research). The 6 months of research will take the place of five clinical electives and one month of Floor Senior/Electrodiagnosis Lab.

The table below depicts the differences between the research track and our standard PM&R residency:

*If board certification in electrodiagnostic medicine is a goal for you, additional curricular modifications can be made to enable this.