Intensive Summer Research Training in Emergency Medicine (ISTEM)

The Intensive Summer Research Training in Emergency Medicine (ISTEM) program expands the number of medical students’ exposed to research and launching students on a pathway to emergency medicine research. The overarching goal of the program is to serve as a resource for engaging primarily rising second-year UNC-CH medical students in emergency medicine research, with the intent of recruiting physicians into a lifelong research career. The short-term goal of the program is to provide medical students with a meaningful research experience early in their medical school careers emphasizing the treatment of acute severe or life-threatening illness and injury

In order to achieve this goal, the aims of the program are:

1. To match selected UNC-CH ISTEM scholars to outstanding, funded research mentors who will provide a productive and rigorous environment for conducting a summer emergency medicine research project in an area of importance to the NIH mission;
2. To provide selected scholars with a formative educational experience in the goals, methods, and challenges of emergency medicine research, including topics on research ethics and conduct; and
3. To track the outcomes of UNC-CH ISTEM students to determine the success of the program and to improve and expand this training opportunity.

The ISTEM program was designed by physicians and researchers who dedicate their time to providing both excellent patient care and researching methods to improve patient care. Under the guidance of renowned well-published physicians who bring expertise to many areas of research, including emergent conditions, cardiovascular and pulmonary health, blood and bleeding disorders, health services, and medical epidemiology, and who hold numerous research grants, we except to train and incorporate several medical students each summer into the program. These students will experience research design, execution, data collection, and analysis, thereby training them as the next generation of physician researchers.

The training program will generally extend over 8-12 weeks during Summer and consist of six trainees each year. Trainees outcomes are expected to consist of increased understanding and practice in research design and implementation, increased experience with mentor-mentee relationships, peer-reviewed publications and presentations, and increased trainee self-awareness related to his/her future research goals and interests. ISTEM staff work with the Carolina Medical Student Research Program (CMSRP) to fill the majority of research slots each Summer. However, some research slots may be available throughout the year.

This program is headed by two co-Directors, Drs. Jane Brice and Tim Platts-Mills, and a program Administrator, Ms. Julianne Cyr.

For further information, please contact:

Julianne Cyr, MPH

Director of Student Research
Research Instructor
jcyr@med.unc.edu