Research During Residency: A Practical Guide for Internal Medicine Trainees

So, You Made It to Residency… Now What About Research?

You’ve finally arrived—welcome to residency! No more late-night Epic chart review and abstract writing, right? Well… not quite.

If your dream is hospital medicine, primary care, or a MedEd/admin track, feel free to skim this post. But if you're one of the 70–80% at Penn aiming for fellowship or a career in academic QI, research matters. A lot. Whether it’s a stepping stone or something you genuinely enjoy (like me—yes, I get excited about R code and literature deep dives), building research skills and finding strong mentorship early is key.

Let’s be real: research in residency is hard. Time is short, stats can be intimidating, and great mentors don’t always fall into your lap. Still, I’ve managed to publish:

• 2 first-author original research papers
• 2 first-author case reports
• 2 first-author letter to the editor replies
• 1 co-author editorial
• 3 co-author original research studies
• Plus several abstracts and a few med school projects I finally wrapped up

This blog is intended to be a practical guide to thriving in the clinical research world during IM residency—how to find a mentor, build useful skills, stay productive, and what to do when your first match isn’t the right one.

Let’s get into it.

Finding the Right Mentor – Fit > Fame

Mentorship can make or break your research experience. You’re not expected to know what’s “hot” in a subspecialty as a trainee—that’s your mentor’s job. The key? Find someone working on projects that genuinely interest you or align with your future goals.

Where to Look:

• Ask your assigned program mentor to connect you with a specialty’s research point-person
• Poll PGY3s—they’ve already survived the process and may have projects to hand off
• Meet with the APD of Research—they often know who’s active (and who’s resident-friendly)

What to Consider:

• Responsiveness: Do they reply to emails? Are they engaged when you meet?
• Track record with residents: Have others successfully published with them?
• Career stage:
  • Early-career = likely have higher volume output, but also need to have first author pubs themselves
  • Mid-to-late career = lower volume output but are typically happy to be exclusively senior author on pubs

Red Flags:

• Ghosting, inaccessibility or prolonged response times
• Lack of resident authorship on recent pubs
• Vague project ideas with no clear direction (you don’t have time for that)

Level Up Before You Link Up: Becoming a Standout Mentee

So you’ve got your eye on a great mentor—but guess what? So do 10 other residents in your program (#CardiologyCrew, #OncSquad, #LiverLegends). To stand out and demonstrate your value in forging a mutually beneficial mentor-mentee relationship, start sharpening some essential skills now. Learning some basic clinical research / analysis skills can empower you to be a more confident and impactful contributor to your research projects.

Recommended Skills:

• Statistical Literacy – Know your medians from your means. Understand when to use a t-test vs. ANOVA. Learn the basics of p-values, confidence intervals, and Kaplan-Meier curves.
• Excel Competency – Formulas and functions can save hours—especially when cleaning datasets.
• REDCap – Build surveys, manage databases, and become the go-to data wrangler. Tons of YouTube tutorials are available.
• Citation tools – Streamline manuscript writing with Mendeley, EndNote, or Zotero. Future you will thank you.
• Statistical Analysis – R and STATA are the most popular at Penn.
  • STATA – Subscription required (ask your mentor if they have a license or use your residency edu/conference fund). Easiest for non-coders.
  • RStudio – Free, open-source, and powerful. Easier with a coding background—but you can lean on AI like ChatGPT to help debug or write code (truly a game changer for someone who has spent many hours on stackoverflow.com).
    • Pro Tip: Start with this intro guide to R.

Strategies to Stay Productive Without Burning Out

Let’s be honest—after a night shift or 24-hour call, research hustle isn’t exactly top of mind. That’s why intentionality is everything. The good news? You get plenty of elective time during residency—up to two blocks/year can be fully dedicated to research! Outpatient or lighter elective rotations are also great windows to catch up.

Pro Tips for Getting Stuff Done (Without Losing It):

• Set realistic, bite-sized goals – Deadlines are helpful (especially around abstract season) but don’t overcommit. Be upfront with your mentor about what’s feasible.
• Treat research time like a shift – Block off time in your Google Calendar just like a clinical rotation. Protect it.
• Keep in touch – Regular check-ins with your mentor prevent time wasted in the wrong direction.
• Use tech to your advantage – AI tools (like ChatGPT, OpenEvidence), citation managers, and Excel formulas can save hours. Don’t let AI write your whole abstract or manuscript, but it can help outline, structure ideas, and streamline the literature search.

And remember—it’s perfectly fine to pause research during heavy inpatient months. Your brain and general state of wellbeing will thank you and your mentor will understand.

When Your First Mentor Is… Not the One

Not every mentorship is a perfect match—and that’s totally normal. Some mentors prefer working with fellows, others may be pulled in too many career/personal life directions, and sometimes your needs just don’t align.

Signs It’s Not a Great Fit:

• You’re getting little to no feedback or guidance
• Expectations are vague or communication is inconsistent
• The project is stalled and you’re carrying most of the weight alone

What to Do:

• Have the conversation – Set up a respectful check-in: “I really appreciate your time so far, but I’m wondering if this project is still a good fit for both of us.”
• Ask for connections – Your mentor might know someone looking for help. You can also ask: 1) the APD of Research, 2) attendings you’ve worked with clinically who have shared interests, 3) co-residents working with mentors who need more manpower on their projects.
• Keep doors open – You don’t have to cut ties—just shift focus. You can revisit the project later if it picks back up. There is no limit to the number of mentors you can have, just a limit on your time and ability to meet research deadlines and mentor expectations.

The silver lining of a mentorship mismatch? Learning what doesn’t work helps you find what does. Future-you will thank you for figuring that out early.

You Don’t Need to Be a PhD Research Star—Just Curious and Committed

Let’s be real: successful clinical research during 80-hour weeks of notes, discharges, and goals-of-care conversations isn’t easy. But countless residents have done it—and with less elective time and fewer resources than you have now.

The key? Work with people who motivate you, choose projects that genuinely interest you, and set realistic, achievable goals.

You don’t need a NEJM cover story to land a fellowship. What matters is that you see a project through and can clearly explain what you learned and how it made you a stronger physician-scientist (or clinician if research is not your end game).

Bottom line: Passion, persistence, and follow-through beat perfection every time.