Resuscitation Research Fellowship

Center for Resuscitation Science Research Fellowship

The Center of Resuscitation Science research fellowship will provide an intensive year of training in the conduction of translational research in resuscitation medicine. As a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center offers fellows the opportunity to apply for the Resuscitation Research Fellowship. The fellowship is multi-disciplinary with primary sponsorship from the emergency department but faculty participation spanning both medical and surgical critical care. The fellow will be dedicated to research and training involving resuscitation (primarily cardiac arrest but also septic shock and other shock states). Fellows will be trained in translational research with the option to pursue primarily epidemiologic (big data queries), clinical trials, or lab-based work. Each fellow will choose an area of expertise and focus his or her efforts in this area though will have ample opportunity for exposure to the full range of translational resuscitation research. While all fellows will have ample opportunity for multiple research pursuits, all must have a minimum of at least one first-author research project with a goal submission for a national presentation and peer-review publication by the end of the fellowship year. The fellowship will also include attendance at a minimum of one regional or national emergency or critical care conference. Through this 1-2 year experience, fellows will obtain both didactic and practical training in resuscitation research. The core group of faculty is actively engaged in translational research in resuscitation research with approximately 30 active IRBs, 6 clinical trials, and many observational (large database) investigations. The group publishes an average of 15 peer-reviewed manuscripts per year inclusive of publications in high-impact journals such as the British Medical Journal, Circulation, and JAMA.

Goals and Objectives

The overall goal of the training program is to provide advanced training in resuscitation research to physicians or scientists such that they can develop into independent investigators in the field of resuscitation medicine. This overall goal can be divided into a series of objectives as below:

To provide training in clinical trial design and execution in resuscitation research

To achieve this goal, we have scheduled didactics, hands-on experience, interaction with senior investigators, and one-on-one training such that the fellow will be well-versed in clinical trials research.

To provide advanced training in resuscitation research for big data analyses.

To achieve this goal, fellows will be trained in both basic and advanced statistical analysis. They will have the opportunity for big data analyses through some of the ongoing work that we are doing with Get With the Guidelines from the American Heart Association as well as other sources.

To provide training in mitochondrial metabolism as this pertains to resuscitation.

To achieve this aim, fellows will be exposed to our lab investigating mitochondrial metabolism as this relates to critically ill patients and states. We have active translational studies for which fellows can learn how to incorporate findings at the bench to the bedside. Lab training will include our standard didactics plus work with Xiaowen Liu, PhD and laboratory director.

Research Didactic Series

Our didactics are designed for a broad-based understanding and advancement in translational research. Topics covered during our research lecture series include but are not limited to:

1) Biostatistics – Basic and Advance

2) Translating Ideas into Investigation

3) Basics of Clinical Trial Design

4) Execution of Clinical Trials

5) Nuts and Bolts of the IRB

6) Challenging Study Design

7) How to obtain an Investigational New Drug and when do I need to do so?

8) Data Safety and Monitoring Boards

9) Database Management

10) Graphs, Tables, and More: displaying data with style

11) Manuscript Writing

12) Grant Writing and Funding Success

13) Research Ethics

14) Bench to Bedside and Bedside to Bench: How to incorporate lab-based work into clinical investigation

15) Basics of Mitochondrial Metabolism

Fellowship Requirements

Resuscitation Research fellows will have exposure to all three components of the research operation but will generally concentrate in one (or possibly two) areas. The fellowship consists of structured didactics/curriculum supported by a “hands-on” project (s) led by the fellow. Mentors include the faculty from the Center for Resuscitation Science as well as external mentors within BIDMC and the Harvard system. Each fellow is required to submit a minimum of one publishable manuscript for peer review at or around time of completion of the fellowship. Fellows will have a Harvard appointment and will have time allotted for travel to national (or international) conferences to present their work. Both national and international applicants are encouraged to apply for the fellowship.

Contact Information

Interested applicants should email Fellowship Program Manager Francesca Montillo or Fellowship Program Director Dr. Michael Donnino.

Thanks for considering applying to our program.

Michael W. Donnino, MD
Director of Center for Resuscitation Science
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Attending Physician of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, BIDMC Boston, MA

Visit the Center for Resuscitation Science website to learn more information.