At NYU Long Island School of Medicine, we encourage undergraduate medical students to pursue research in the early stages of education so that you can continue to develop your research interests throughout medical school, residency training, and your professional career. Engagement in research at this stage fosters critical thinking and familiarity with evidence-based medicine, which are essential skills for practicing physicians.

We host biannual student research workshops where you have the opportunity to interact with faculty and initiate research collaborations. We encourage those who conduct research with faculty to submit their work for presentation at the annual NYU Long Island School of Medicine Research Day, as well as at regional and national meetings.

Conducting research at the undergraduate level helps develop several important entrustable professional activities that are assessed during the residency application process, including interprofessional collaboration, writing, and presentation skills. It also increases the likelihood of having research accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Medical students can begin conducting extracurricular research after successfully completing the Language Acquisition course during phase one of the MD curriculum. Extracurricular research activities are conducted outside of regularly scheduled curricular time (for first-year students on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons or weekends). There are also opportunities to conduct curricular research during research electives, as well as the option to conduct a research-based capstone project.

Finding a Research Project and Mentor

Medical students can find research opportunities and mentors by attending biannual research workshops where faculty discuss research projects and students share research experiences. You can also access our catalog of faculty and resident research opportunities (a Kerberos ID and password are required), which contains a listing of NYU Long Island School of Medicine faculty and residents from across our many departments and divisions who have research projects that are appropriate for student researchers. Please contact your prospective mentor to learn more about their research and to see if they still have space available.

Medical students are not restricted to research opportunities offered by the mentors listed in the catalog. Please feel free to seek out opportunities independently by reaching out to faculty after class or on the floors. You are encouraged to engage with NYU Long Island School of Medicine faculty but if you cannot find a local mentor or project that interests you, you may collaborate with faculty from other institutions.

Research Project Requirements and Provisions

After finding a mentor, you should work on creating a mentor–mentee agreement (a Kerberos ID and password are required) with your faculty mentor. This document helps to define expectations for both parties. All students are required to complete ethics training in order to start research and upload your completed certificates (a Kerberos ID and password are required).

Before initiating extracurricular research, all students must be successfully completing required coursework for the MD degree and receive permission from the Office of Students and Diversity to pursue a research project. Stipends are not available for extracurricular research. Travel reimbursement is usually provided to students who have work accepted at local, regional, or national meetings.

Contact Us

For additional information on medical student research, contact Louis Ragolia, PhD, director of the medical student research program, at louis.ragolia@nyulangone.org.