Research Curriculum
A wide variety of basic, translational and clinical research experiences are available to the fellows both within the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and the larger VUMC and Vanderbilt University communities. We expect that during training, each fellow will participate in a scholarly project to gain experience in hypothesis generation, IRB submission, data acquisition and analysis, abstract and manuscript preparation, and oral presentation.
There are multiple conferences designed to equip fellows with fundamental skills to successfully complete a research project, including 2 weeks of intensive Introduction to Research course during the first year of fellowship. In addition, fellows are encouraged to attend working research conferences, including the Cardiovascular Research Series, weekly conferences within the Vanderbilt Translational and Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center (VTRACC), and Journal Club to enhance understanding of ongoing research, research techniques, statistics, and interpretation of literature.
Fellows interested in research-based careers may conduct full time mentored research during their third and fourth years of fellowship. Dedicated research years are generally supported by internal and external funding mechanisms. During this time many fellows pursue additional formal didactic training, including the Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI), Masters in Public Health (MPH), or Masters in Biomedical Informatics (e.g. clinical informatics, data science).