The facebook.com/groups/ed4medus/ is starting to generate a lot of great interaction between the group members. Thank you for your contributions. Here is the first question:
So the question is what research do you want to do and why. Let's first understand the rationale behind this question and what exactly is the interviewer looking for. I briefly discussed it in my practice interview with SS in a prior post, but lets look at it in more detail.
Why is the interviewer asking you this question?
Overall this is a test of your critical thinking skills.
I believe the interviewer is asking this question to get a sense of which medical condition or problem hits you most at the heart i.e. which medical condition (acute or chronic) are you passionate about the most. Is it something that you feel you can do better than others? Is this something that you cannot withstand anyone else doing a sloppy job? Is it something that wakes you up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and you are absolutely not willing to cut corners when trying to do your very best for the patient with this medical condition.
The interviewer could also be evaluating if you have the right research outlook i.e. the ability to identify that there is a real need to solve a medical problem in the community and that possibly you have the fire to take the lead in making a difference to patient outcomes.
The interviewer may also be testing your medical knowledge in this way and wishes to know if you are following the research literature about latest developments in your disease of interest.
This may also be caught as a way of trying to really gauge your interest in that specialty. For example, some internal medicine applicants do apply to a second specialty such as pediatrics or psychiatry. When you are at an internal medicine interview, it is going to look very awkward if you would like to find safer alternatives to electroconvulsive therapy for major depression or develop newer therapies for ADHD. So think about it and make sure you are well prepared. This is a bit similar to 'Tell me an interesting clinical case'.
The interviewer is also getting to know you better as a person through this question and is trying to understand why you feel that medical problem is important to you. Was there a family member afflicted with that disorder? Did you personally get affected by that problem. Now is the time to tell so.
What is the interviewer expecting you to answer?
I believe the interviewer wants you to self-reflect and ask yourself what medical condition would you be most interested in. There is a common saying in internal medicine residency that when are choose a subspecialty fellowship, think of the ONE chronic medical condition that you are very keen in resolving. It could be atrial fibrillation or stroke or MI or GI bleed or prostate cancer or COPD or asthma or rheumatoid arthritis but there has to be JUST ONE chronic condition.
Can you give an example?
Your answers could range from anything like diabetes or hypertension or more specific conditions like pulmonary hypertension or MI or esophageal cancer or even society's ills such as tobacco cessation or reducing salt intake.
This would be my response:
"I would be very interested in studying obesity. Obesity is a major medical problem affecting one third of the US population. I myself have seen my mother as a victim of obesity and its complications, that is, diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis. We have absolutely no approved medical therapy to address obesity. The endemic of obesity in my opinion is because of increased insulin from high carbohydrate intake. If I had all the research funding, I would really like to study how a diet that is high in fat and protein, but low in carbohydrate such as the keto diet could help with weight loss and also improve outcomes of cardiovascular events and even survival. This is because I truly believe that 'you are what you eat'. My research would also serve to update national guidelines such as the American Diabetes Association guidelines that currently has recommendations on a low-fat diet but discourages a high fat diet that I intend to study. This research would help millions with obesity and diabetes in the US and the world."
What's my reference for this example. The Ted talk below:
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