Department of
Medicine

Research

The WVU Internal Medicine Residency Program recognizes that research and scholarship are critical for our residents’ education and future career development.  The program supports and encourages scholarly pursuits through a dedicated curriculum, travel funding, a research track, elective research time, a resident research interest group, and a research support team.

Our Vice Chair for Research, Dr. Feinberg, oversees the research mission in the department and works to ensure that residents have an ever-increasing number of mentors and resources available to support their research. The Internal Medicine Residency Program Research team, led by Laura Davisson, MD, MPH, and Jesse Thompson, PhD., facilitates collaboration between residents, fellows, and faculty across the entire Department of Medicine ensuring that residents can do research with a mentor in their area of interest during their training.

Research Resources:

  • Elective Research Time – Residents may procure two months of protected time away from clinical rotations to complete research project. Research Track residents may take three months.
  • Statistical Support – Residents have access to a research assistant to aid in study design, IRB submissions, and data acquisition, storage, and analysis.
  • Travel Grants – Residents can apply for funding to help offset the cost of travel and conference expenses when presenting their work.
  • Resident Research Interest Group – These residents meet regularly with the Research Team for collaborating and socializing, and to suggest practical ideas to help them maximize their research opportunities. This group has already seen an expansion in research opportunities within subspecialties of the department, evidence of ongoing research through the publication and advertisement of resident research projects and an inclusion of resident specific topics in the small group sessions of the annual research day.
  • Research Track – In partnership with WVCTSI, residents in this track may obtain a MS degree in clinical and translational science by the end of their residency.
  • Curriculum – All residents get experience developing a research question, performing a literature search, writing a study outline, and presenting a project proposal. Additionally, there is an annual seminar on how to write an abstract and workshops on effective poster design and presentation.
  • Research Day - Residents have the opportunity to present their work at this annual event. In addition to networking across the Department of Medicine, residents can choose to attend several of the small group sessions, each devoted to a different aspect of research.