As a national leader in NIH vision research funding and host to one of the most advanced ophthalmic research centers globally, the Department of Ophthalmology and Scheie Eye Institute offers stellar opportunities for research mentorship to aspiring clinician-scientists in training. A new structured research program aims to help residents sharpen their research acumen through multi-faculty mentorship in project development.
Qi Cui, MD, PhD, who leads the Resident Research Committee, explains, “Scheie is nationally renowned for our research enterprise, and our Chair, Dr. Bennie Jeng, wanted to ensure our residents benefited from the collective expertise of our experienced faculty by formalizing a mentoring committee to guide their research, to be presented at the annual Resident Research Day.” The Resident Research Committee arrived soon after the introduction of the Innovative Program in Ophthalmology with Exceptional Research (iPOWER), an initiative allowing residents to dedicate a foundational year to research with a faculty mentor before embarking on clinical training in ophthalmology at Scheie.
Like iPOWER in establishing a collaborative research foundation for our trainees, the Resident Research Committee will provide a comprehensive mentorship experience for residents, allowing them to receive guidance and feedback from more than one mentor. “The committee's role has been to help generate a clear hypothesis, clarify methodology, and identify resources as needed for each individual research project,” Dr. Cui explains. “I hope the experience will provide our residents with a solid foundation upon which to think about all types of research, which [follows] the same steps of identifying a research question, generating a hypothesis, understanding what needs to be done to test that hypothesis—[and] ultimately presenting data at conferences and in publications.”
The Resident Research Committee’s structure draws from Dr. Cui's own first-hand experiences—in both her own residency training and her experience as a UPenn NIH/NEI K12 grant recipient. Dr. Cui, as well as Drs. Aleman, Binenbaum, Bunya, Lee, Vanderbeek, Ross, and Uyhazi, have benefitted from the Department’s K12 Clinician Vision Science Program, a 20-year-old initiative focused on equipping and nurturing talented clinician-scientists with mentorship and training. “This committee is modeled on my own research experience in residency, and designed to provide structured feedback similar to [that which] our K12 awardees receive at Penn Ophthalmology,” Dr. Cui explains.
The Resident Research Committee has proven beneficial to the Department’s residents and participating faculty mentors—Dr. Cui calls it a “learning experience” herself. “It has made me a more responsive mentor,” Dr. Cui reflects, “[which] I hope will benefit my own mentees in both the lab and clinical settings.” The committee's approach continues to develop through resident input, mirroring the feedback process between faculty and residents.
by Maressa Park