Neurosurgery is an innovative field that integrates clinical science at many levels, both due the inherent challenges of understanding the central nervous system, as well as the potential avenues for new technology to improve patient outcomes. Correspondingly, research is a core component of neurosurgery training and practice, and successful resident applicants develop a robust research portfolio early in training. Although research is not explicitly required to match in neurosurgery, it is an excellent way to learn about the field, demonstrate your interest in academics, and improve your application. High-quality, basic science work is beneficial, and although work within a neurosurgery lab is ideal, learning the principles of translational science in another specialty would also be highly valued, in particular if you are successfully published. Clinical projects in neurosurgery are very common and viewed favorably; NRMP data is publicly available, and indicates that most successful neurosurgery applicants have multiple publications and other research experiences by the time of their application. It is important to understand that current NRMP data reports all peer-reviewed products (including poster and oral presentations as well as peer-reviewed manuscripts) together, and this number does not represent only publications. Quality over quantity is encouraged such that students are taking active roles in their research opportunities.
Seeking research mentorship locally is critical, and interested students are recommended to initiate projects by reaching out to faculty or residents in your home institution during M1 or M2. When assigned a project, ensuring timely and accurate completion are critical, as this first experience will inform the department’s perspective on you as a future applicant, and success with a low-stakes project will likely lead to higher-yield opportunities. Authorship assignments are at the discretion of the attending, but it is reasonable and appropriate to ask that expectations be established at the outset of a project, rather than risking offense to another trainee (e.g., a resident who thought you were helping them with a project, not taking it over). When accepting roles in research projects, be mindful of your capacity to follow through with your involvement with consideration of your time management for curricular activity and other obligations.
Although a minority of applicants dedicate a year between M3 and M4 to conduct neurosurgery research, this is an opportunity for those students who wish to dive deeper into the world of being a clinician-scientist, or who decided on neurosurgery late and would benefit from more time to explore the field prior to committing. Pursuing a funded scholarship via programs such as Howard Hughes or Dorris Duke is ideal, but by no means mandatory, and it is again recommended that each applicant pursue individualized mentorship to decide whether a candidate would benefit from a dedicated research year. For those students who do pursue a research year, generating a critical volume of scholarly publications during that time is critical as an unproductive experience will be viewed more negatively than a normal application with sparse publications, so exercise caution if the primary goal of this year is simply to build a research portfolio for your application.