The surgical residents at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers Queens are involved in clinical research starting in the first year. Each resident is assigned as principal investigator in a research project that has been selected at the surgical education committee and sanctioned by the Research and Publications Committee and the Institutional Review Board, if necessary. The projects are to be completed during the residency training and are to be submitted for publication and/or presented at a scientific meeting.

The format might vary between prospective or retrospective studies. On occasion, case reports are written by the program director.

Faculty members supervise each project from the divisions. Several research projects have been conducted by the resident staff in conjunction with the Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers Queens and New York Medical College faculty. Monthly project status reports by the participants are made to the Surgical Education Committee.

Technical support for writing and presenting the research is provided to residents with the availability of several computers with word processing capabilities and computerized slide making equipment. Yvette R. Schlussel, Ph.D., our statistician, provides assistance in research design. She attends all the educational committee meetings and is available for consultation.