MD Program

Contact Medical Student Research Program

1213 MERF
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2600
Phone:(319) 335-9449
Fax: (319) 335-8049

  • Online Application Process

    Proposals from M1 and pre-M1 students should be developed with the help of the faculty mentor. All proposals are to be submitted online at Summer Research Fellowship application site.

    M1 fellowship application. (sample proposal)

    Proposals should not exceed four single-spaced pages in length. The following format should be used to write the research proposal:

    1. TITLE OF PROJECT, Student's name, Mentor's name, title and affiliation.
    2. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM TO BE INVESTIGATED? A concise statement of the proposed work to be done
    3. WHAT IS THE HYPOTHESIS YOU ARE TESTING?
    4. WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THE STUDY?
    5. RELEVANT BACKGROUND OR SUPPORTING INFORMATION. Previous work done on the project (a brief description of the results obtained by others or any work the student has done to date that is particularly pertinent).
    6. WHAT ARE THE METHODS YOU WILL USE FOR YOUR STUDY? Details of the research plan. Include the number of subjects to be used or experiments to be run if appropriate. Also discuss how the data will be analyzed.
    7. SUMMARY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS RESEARCH. Explain why the results of the proposed work may be important.
    8. REFERENCES. Background and technical references.

    Failure to address each of these points may adversely affect your score.

    Pre-M1 fellowship application (sample proposal)

    As the timeline between acceptance to medical school and the start of the pre-M1 summer fellowship may be short it is important that you consider your options as early as possible. As soon as you have identified a mentor and no later than March 30th, send an email to Judi Lehman at judith-lehman@uiowa.edu to indicate your interest. Then develop your proposal, which should be written in the form of an abstract that should be kept to about a page, single-spaced, in length and include the following information.

    1. TITLE OF PROJECT, Student's name, Mentor's name, title and affiliation.
    2. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM TO BE INVESTIGATED? A concise statement of the proposed work to be done
    3. WHAT IS THE HYPOTHESIS YOU ARE TESTING?
    4. WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THE STUDY?
    5. RELEVANT BACKGROUND OR SUPPORTING INFORMATION. Previous work done on the project (a brief description of the results obtained by others or any work the student has done to date that is particularly pertinent).
    6. WHAT ARE THE METHODS YOU WILL USE FOR YOUR STUDY? Details of the research plan. Include the number of subjects to be used or experiments to be run if appropriate. Also discuss how the data will be analyzed.

    Failure to address each of these points may adversely affect your score.

    The mentor should write a letter of support for the student outlining the project and the student's anticipated interaction in the lab setting.