• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Association for Academic Surgery (AAS)

Association for Academic Surgery (AAS)

Inspiring and Developing Young Academic Surgeons

  • About
    • AAS Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Foundation
  • Membership
    • Apply For Membership
    • New Member List
    • Membership Directory
  • Jobs
    • AAS Job Board
    • Post a Job
  • Educational Content
    • Blog
      • Submit a Post
    • Webinars
      • How to Write an Abstract
      • Succeeding in the General Surgery Residency Match: the International Medical Graduate Perspective
      • AAS Journal Club Webinars
      • Fireside Chat – Maintaining Balance & Control
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Equity Series
        • Allyship
        • PRIDE: The LGBTQ+ Community in Academic Surgery
        • Racial Discrimination in Academic Surgery
      • Academic Surgery in the Time of COVID-19 Series
        • How to Optimize your Research During the Pandemic
        • How to Optimize Educational Experiences During the Pandemic
        • Virtual Interviews
      • The Transition to Practice – Presented by Intuitive
    • Assistant Professor Playbook
  • Grants/Awards
    • AAS/AASF Research Awards
      • The Geoffrey Dunn MD Research Award in Surgical Palliative Care
      • AAS/AASF Henri Ford Junior Faculty Research Award
      • Joel J. Roslyn Faculty Research Award
      • AAS/AASF Trainee Research Fellowship Awards
    • Travel Awards
      • AAS/AASF Fall Courses Travel Award
      • AAS/AASF Student Diversity Travel Award
      • Senior Medical Student Travel Award
      • Visiting Professorships
    • Awards FAQ’s
  • Meetings
    • Academic Surgical Congress
    • AAS Fall Courses
    • Surgical Investigators’ Course
  • Leadership
    • Current AAS Leadership
    • AAS Past Presidents
    • How to Chair
    • Committee Missions & Objectives
    • AAS Officer Descriptions
  • Donate!
  • Login

How to Pursue Academic Research in Residency Without Taking Dedicated Research Time Off

August 7, 2018 by AAS Webmaster

Surgeons are by nature investigators. Even those who do not actively seek research opportunities find that they often need to explore new methods in the operating room based on a patient’s individual circumstances. They make a scientific question, hypothesize (that their proposed solution in the operating room will benefit the patient), implement their hypothesis, make observations, and then form a conclusion based on their results. In short, a surgeon follows the scientific method every day.

Surgical residents may find that they want to pursue the more formalized scientific method, namely through the process of forming a scientific question, investigating, and then publishing the results for further peer review from the academic surgical world. Yet not all residency programs offer dedicated research time off for residents to do so. Even programs that do allow this time often only allow a limited number of residents to pursue this. Residents may also have other constraints such as family obligations, paying back student loans, and concerns over lengthening an already lengthy period of training. However, the good news is that residents can pursue academic research without take years of time away from their clinical residency time. Here are some potential options:

1) Talk to attendings in your field of interest to see if they are pursuing any clinical projects. They may be looking for help with completing these projects. This will also be a good opportunity for you to connect with them as potential mentors in this field.

2) Talk to residents who are in the midst of their dedicated research time. They may have projects that could benefit from your help, such as conducting literature reviews for use in planning their experiments and in writing their manuscripts. Experience with basic science, even indirectly, can help give unique perspective to one’s daily clinical surgery practice, and can also help residents more critically examine published basic science manuscripts when deciding if they should change their practices based on published research.

3) Talk to your fellow residents to see if they have clinical projects that they are already working on with attendings to see if they need any help. Working together with other residents can help all involved to move more efficiently to the ultimate goal of publishing a good piece of research.

While dedicated research time can help with this pursuit, surgical residents can benefit greatly from exposure to academic research even without taking dedicated time off.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Related

Category: The Academic Surgeon

About AAS Webmaster

The Association for Academic Surgery was founded in 1967 and has grown significantly over the years being widely recognized as an inclusive surgical organization with over 2,500 member surgeons.

Active members have traditionally held faculty appointments at a recognized academic center. Active membership is also available to senior/chief residents and fellows in approved training programs in general surgery and the surgical specialties. The impetus of the membership remains research-based academic surgery.

Previous Post:The Last Person I Would Have Expected To Do That
Next Post:AAS Fundamentals of Surgical Research Course
The Last Person I Would Have Expected To Do That
AAS Fundamentals of Surgical Research Course

Copyright © 2025 · Association for Academic Surgery (AAS) · All Rights Reserved