Residency Program Program Overview Curriculum Clinical Sites Research How to Apply Meet Our Residents & Alumni Contact Us Research Home Research Research: Clinical Departments Neurology: Home Neurology: Education & Training Neurology: Education & Training > Residency Program Neurology: Education & Training > Residency Program > Research Research Opportunities & Requirements Each neurology resident develops a research project during training. These projects may include traditional hypothesis-driven research, as well as case series and case reports. The resident is assigned to a mentor who helps with progress and advises throughout the project. Research projects are presented to the department at an annual Research Day in June. Research Projects For those focused on research or those who want to take maximum advantage of the educational opportunity afforded by training in a leading university, engaging in research as a resident is a chance to complete a research project with the guidance of a seasoned investigator. Residents might devote their electives to a single project, or they might design a project that spans more than one year, in which case only an update on the ongoing project will be presented at the annual Research Day. Residents’ chances of obtaining a competitive fellowship after graduation will be bolstered by completing a research project during residency. For those who do not expect to pursue research long-term, research projects can still help sharpen skills they will need in the future, such as compiling and comparing a series of patients or evaluating industry-sponsored trials. Residents may choose to do a case report or a chart review of a condition of interest with a faculty mentor, or they may choose to help a faculty member with one of their clinical trials. Regardless of trainees’ future plans for engaging in research, this is an opportunity to have an extended relationship with a faculty member whose clinical style, research or clinical practice exploring a neurology subspecialty of potential interest can have substantial value. IRB Certain research studies require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. The IRB monitors all human research studies at the university. Talk to your mentor about your project to determine whether IRB review is needed and what approvals are already in place for the project. Goals Residents are expected to submit an abstract for their project to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) or other national meeting. Many meetings have travel scholarships, and the department has funds for residents to attend meetings, particularly with accepted abstracts. Residents are required to attend at least one meeting during the three years of residency. Many meetings include resident research awards. Residents are also expected to publish their research findings with the help of their mentors. Quality Improvement Projects In some cases, quality improvement projects can turn into research projects. Residents do not need IRB approval for quality improvement projects. However, if they plan on expanding to a research project that may be published as general knowledge, the project will need IRB approval. Quality improvement projects focus on improving clinical practice and must be specific to UC Irvine; they cannot include patients or data from other sites. Finding a Mentor For help identifying a faculty mentor, please visit our faculty page to learn more about our neurology faculty members and their research interests. A listing of clinical trials in the department is available on the UCI Health Find a Clinical Trial website. In some cases, residents may choose a co-mentor from another area or department — for example, neurobiology and behavior, public health or epidemiology — who would be helpful for the residents’ projects. Research Presentations Each resident will present their research in June at the departmental annual Research Day, which will mimic the structure of a professional meeting such as the annual meeting of the AAN. This will provide residents with practice in preparing and submitting research abstracts and preparing and delivering oral and poster presentations. All residents are expected to present at Research Day.