SUMMER TRAINING AND RESEARCH IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE (STAR-EM)
The UHN STAR-EM (Summer Training and Research in Emergency Medicine) Program is a summer training program for University of Toronto undergraduate medical students that advances the goal of cultivating and supporting research in emergency medicine through education, specialized training, and sustainable presence of collaborating researchers in the ED.
A cohort of four to five undergraduate medical students who have completed Year 1 or 2 at the University of Toronto will be eligible to be enrolled in a 10-week focused research program within the UHN Emergency Departments. Their time will be divided between undertaking work on their own summer research project under the mentorship of a UHN EM faculty member (STAR-EM research faculty), attending in the ED to support ongoing emergency medicine projects, shadowing ED physicians (STAR-EM teaching faculty), and attending the weekly STAR-EM program curriculum (components of the program may be conducted virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic).
This program serves to nurture and cultivate future aspiring EM researchers and clinicians who are currently enrolled in a Canadian undergraduate MD program.
Program start date: June 3, 2024.
Supervisor application: Now closed
Student Application: Due April 16th, 2024
Please e-mail Konika at konika.nirmalanathan@uhn.ca for more details.
CALL FOR STAR-EM FACULTY SUPERVISORS
Interested staff should submit a cv to konika.nirmalanathan@uhn.ca and complete the application form (https://forms.gle/4HptTTYJSB6vHzgSA) including a brief (<300 word) proposal and project timeline by February 9th, 2024. The proposal should outline the focused question to be addressed through the project this summer and the role of the medical student. The project should be largely achievable within the ten weeks of the STAR-EM curriculum. In compliance with current COVID-19 restrictions for students, the project should not require direct patient contact or attendance in the ED. Please note the deadline for CREMS submission is February 9th, 2024.
For more details, please see the following document:
Top Education Innovation Abstract Award
"STAR-EM: An innovative summer research program for medical students in an urban Canadian academic emergency department" was recognized as the co-winner for the 2020 Canadian Association of Emergency Physician (CAEP)'s Top Education Innovation Abstract Award
Authors: Friedman, S., Porplycia, D., Lexchin, J., Hayman, K., Masood, S., O'Connor, E., Xie, E., Bryan, J., Smith-Gorvie, T., Lim, D., Leung, J., Sheikh, H. (2020).
Read the abstract here: https://doi.org/10.1017/cem.2020.67
Read the full manuscript describing the curriculum development and program evaluation here: https://doi.org/10.1017/cem.2020.366
EXPERIENCE UHN EMERGENCY MEDICINE RESEARCH
Program Curriculum
The curriculum will typically include sessions on research methods (including ethics, protocol design, data analysis, writing for publication) group review of research work in progress, and clinical emergency medicine (including ultrasound, simulation, and sports medicine).