John Bradley Clinical Research Programme – Endocrinology
Summer research experience with the John Bradley Clinical Research Programme
Over the past summer, Amanda Kung (3rd year BSc student) participated in the John Bradley Clinical Research Programme in Toronto, Ontario.
She was assigned to the Endocrinology department at Michael Garron Hospital, and worked under the supervision of Dr Zoe Lysy, Dr Rebecca Fine, and Dr Raymond Fung. Her research project focused on improving the management of diabetic pregnant patients during the hours of active labour. This involved analysing the data from over 100 patients in order to find areas for improvement in managing this specific cohort of patients.
The programme was six weeks long and consisted of weekly four-hour seminars at the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. Each seminar focused on a different aspect of research, and students were asked to give one oral presentation to defend their project in the context of that seminar. At the end of the programme, students gave a poster presentation in front of another panel of judges summarising their research and produced a ‘one-minute wonder’, where they were allowed creative freedom to describe their project in a one-minute video.
Amanda recommends this programme to students interested in learning about the various aspects of research and for those wanting to broaden their exposure to clinical research prior to writing their dissertation. She also noted that the programme is the perfect opportunity for students to meet and collaborate with medical students from around the world and make long lasting connections with doctors, professors, and research scientists based in Canada.