ORC Student Research

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

• John C. Licciardone, DO, MS, MBA, FACPM

Regents Professor and Richards-Cohen Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research

Department of Family Medicine

MET-568

GOAL

• To promote competency in understanding the methodological foundations that facilitate the conduct and critical evaluation of clinical research with an emphasis on patient-centered studies.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

• To receive a Certificate of Completion, each student must accomplish the following during the Summer Program in Clinical Research (SPCR) within the context a group project:
• Perform literature searching relative to an assigned group research project.
• Perform preliminary research design pertaining to the assigned group research project (in conjunction with the Program Director).
• Participate in a group oral presentation describing progress on the assigned research project, including background, methods, and preliminary results, if applicable (required attendance).
• Present assigned Journal Club articles and critically evaluate their content (required attendance).

DIDACTIC SESSIONS

• Required didactic sessions generally will be scheduled for on-campus attendance weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon, from June 16 through July 1, 2025. A summary of daily topics in the SPCR will be provided. Dr. Licciardone will serve as the primary instructor with other faculty available as needed. The schedule is subject to change based on unexpected contingencies, including use of remote didactic sessions (via Zoom). The SPCR requires full-time effort throughout the entire Summer. Thus, students are expected to be reading or working on program-related activities when not in didactic sessions.

 READING MATERIALS

• The required textbook is Browner, et al. Designing Clinical Research, 5^th, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2023.
• Other required readings will be provided in Canvas.

PRACTICAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Students will gain practical experience in conducting a clinical research project within a group setting, including biomedical literature searching, interpretation of preliminary data, and oral presentations, under the supervision of the Program Director.

 JOURNAL CLUB

• Students will gain proficiency in presenting and critically evaluating clinical research studies pertaining to published research using data from the PRECISION Pain Research Registry.

ATTENDANCE

• Students must attend during the entire Summer to receive a Certificate of Completion. Up to 2 sessions may be missed with approval from the Program Director. Additional absences will require a valid excuse for medical or other emergency reasons. Daily quiz questions may be used to monitor student attendance, participation, and learning.

PROPRIETY INTEREST AND CONFIDENTIALITY

• Osteopathic Research Center and PRECISION Pain Research Registry documents and data are considered intellectual property. Moreover, all research participant data are considered privileged information and are to remain confidential per Institutional Review Board guidelines.
• The restrictions noted above do not apply to documents and data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which is freely available in the public domain.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

• A Certificate of Completion will be awarded by the Program Director to each student who successfully completes all requirements of the SPCR during 2025.

SUMMER PROGRAM COST AND SUPPORT

• The SPCR is offered at no cost to students. Institutional resources are also provided at no cost, including access to required readings in Canvas, Health Sciences Library materials, and the IBM SPSS Statistics Software.
• Neither student stipends nor fringe benefits are available for the SPCR and students must acquire their own textbook.

 SUBSEQUENT CLINICAL RESEARCH TRAINING

• Students who successfully complete the SPCR during 2025 will be eligible to continue to perform clinical research during the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters, under the direction of the Program Director.
• Research team objectives will include completing the group research projects developed during the SPCR by ongoing research hypothesis refinement, data collection and analysis, manuscript writing and revision, and submission of manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed biomedical journals. A bibliography of recent TCOM student publications and ongoing projects is provided at the end of this Prospectus. Successful SPCR completers may also be eligible to apply for subsequent research project opportunities that arise.

We offer the program to medical students who successfully complete their first year at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Spring 2025 (Class of 2028) because they will have time during their summer break to commit to research training. Students in TCOM who participate in other sponsored research programs during Summer 2025 will not be eligible for the program because it requires full-time effort.

No, the program is intended to provide training that will potentially facilitate the conduct and critical evaluation of clinical research in a variety of settings. However, teaching examples and projects will focus on chronic pain research conducted through the Pain Registry for Epidemiological, Clinical, and Interventional Studies and Innovation (PRECISION Pain Research Registry). This may include any of the following as they pertain to chronic pain treatment and outcomes: osteopathic medical care; impact of the patient-physician relationship; benefits and harms of opioid therapy; racial and ethnic health disparities; and other miscellaneous topics.

The application process involves an online form that is reviewed and evaluated by the Program Director and/or other faculty or staff.

The application form deadline is January 10, 2025. We anticipate making acceptance decisions by January 31, 2025. An accepted student must confirm his/her position within 5 business days. Any withdrawals after an acceptance is confirmed will adversely impact the program, potentially hampering our ability to select alternate students from the Class of 2028, and will be reported to the TCOM Dean and/or Associate Dean for Research.

There are no tuition costs or other fees for the program. Institutional resources are also provided at no cost, including readings in Canvas, Health Sciences Library materials, and the IBM SPSS Statistics Software. However, students must acquire their own textbook.

No, there are no stipends or fringe benefits provided.

The number of acceptances primarily depends on the number and quality of applicants.

We require full-time effort throughout the entire Summer Program, including times when no formal didactic sessions are scheduled. The program is heavily “front-loaded” so it is critical that students participate in all scheduled activities, which normally occur weekday mornings and on selected afternoons. We understand that rarely a student may be unable to attend program activities because of illness or an unexpected emergency. However, unexcused absences may result in dismissal from the program. Students may schedule summer vacations and other extended leaves after July 1, 2025.

A student will successfully complete the Summer Program by participating in all scheduled sessions and assigned research activities involving the group project and journal club presentation(s). A Certificate of Completion will be provided during Summer 2025 to students who successfully complete the program.

No. The program focuses on preparing students to conduct substantive research projects involving full-length manuscripts that will be competitive for publication in biomedical journals. A bibliography of recent program publications and ongoing projects involving TCOM students is available in the Prospectus. Students seeking to present a poster should not apply for the program.

Yes, students who successfully complete the Summer Program will have the option of continuing to participate in their assigned group research project during Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 so that they may become authors on a journal publication.