Faculty Development Fellowship: Research

The goal of the University of Iowa Department of Family and Community Medicine Research Fellowship is to develop high-quality research skills in family physicians so that they can develop and create research projects that align with interests of family medicine physicians.

The Department of Family and Community Medicine is recognized nationally for excellence in patient care, teaching, and research. The department is dedicated to providing primary care for the citizens of Iowa, educating medical students, training resident physicians, providing continuing education, and creating new knowledge to improve primary care and health care delivery systems. Research fellows will have access to a nationally recognized practice-based research network (PBRN) of family physicians across the state of Iowa, the Iowa Research Network (IRENE). In addition to acquiring research skills, fellows will spend part of their time in clinical care and teaching at the University of Iowa Family Medicine Clinic, or at one of the nearby University of Iowa clinics. The Department's main campus will be the principal site of the research fellowship training.

Research

Research

• Fellows will spend a minimum of 50% of their time on faculty development, including coursework and research activities to prepare them for clinical research in family medicine.
• Fellows will be expected to develop and complete a research project relevant to family medicine.
• The Department has close ties with research faculty in other Colleges, including Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dentistry.
• They will participate with other fellows in other medical disciplines in the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science program, which includes fellows from a variety of disciplines.
• Coursework includes epidemiology, biostatistics, research ethics, academic survival skills, grant writing, and other seminars.
• Fellows will choose a research mentor or mentors (at least one mentor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine) who will help guide them in their research project.
• Fellows will also be expected to write and submit a grant proposal by the conclusion of the program.

Clinical Care

• Research fellows will spend the remainder of their time in clinical care and teaching at the University of Iowa Family Medicine Clinic or at one of the nearby University of Iowa Community Clinics.
• Opportunities exist to participate in our obstetrics/newborn or medical inpatient services.
• Fellows will take night call in rotation.

Academic Curriculum

• For more information about the academic programs, please go to:  MS in Epidemiology
• The two main programs of interest to family physicians would be the MS in Clinical Investigation and PhD in Epidemiology
• Applicants must be accepted by the Graduate College in the College of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology.

Quick Facts

• The Iowa Research Network (I RENE) is a primary care practice-based research network (pbrn) that was established in 2001. The work of IRENE depends on a close collaboration of community-based primary care physicians and academic primary care physicians at University of Iowa. Current membership includes 310 physicians in 188 offices in 75 of Iowa's 99 counties.
• We collaborate with Meta-LARC (Meta-Network Learning and Research Center), a group of 7 PBRNs across the United States and Canada.
• Two fellows per year

Benefits

• Stipends and benefits are at the standard PGY level for the University of Iowa Health Care.   Stipends | Graduate Medical Education (uiowa.edu)
• Fellows will be eligible for medical benefits and tuition/fees.
• It is generally anticipated that fellows will begin July 1, August 15 (or slightly before the start of the fall semester), or January 15.

Our Goals and Objectives for Training

The overall goal of this program is to train board-eligible or board­ certified family medicine physicians in conducting research relevant to the specialty of family medicine. This includes all steps of the research process from developing a research question, conducting a literature search, planning a study, obtaining IRB approval, executing a study, and writing results for publication. Fellows will also be taking classes in grant writing and will be expected to have a grant submitted by the conclusion of the fellowship. Fellows will develop skills to become a productive and successful family medicine researcher.

By the conclusion of the program, it is expected that trainees will have the skills to develop their own collaborative research program.

Financial Support Plan