Northwestern Spine Research Fellowship

[mshauver]

2024-2025 The Northwestern Spine Research Fellowship
 
Job Type: Paid, one-year research fellowship
 
Location: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and The Northwestern Center for Spine Health, Chicago, Illinois USA
 
Job Summary:
The Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is seeking applications for a one-year research fellowship in spine surgery. The fellowship will be under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Srikanth Divi, Dr. Wellington Hsu, and Dr. Alpesh A Patel.  The Department currently has over 30 projects per year in spine research with dedicated research staff.  The faculty mentors are widely known with years of experience, connected to surgical training programs throughout the United States, and are leaders in research societies around the world.
 
This fellowship is designed for highly motivated 3rd or 4th year medical students who are interested in pursuing a career in orthopaedic surgery, spine surgery, or related fields. The fellowship will provide comprehensive training in spine research, including clinical research, translational research, and advanced data science including machine learning and artificial intelligence. The fellow will take a leadership role in research projects with daily interactions with faculty, resident physicians, research staff, and patients.
 
An ambitious fellow should expect to leave with multiple publications, book chapters, and podium presentations at national and international research society meetings. The fellow will have an opportunity to learn more about the clinical practice of spine surgery, including observations in the operating room, and to engage with critical members of residency search committees. 
 
The fellowship is an outstanding opportunity to prepare yourself for a career in orthopedic surgery or neurosurgery and to distinguish yourself from others applying for highly competitive residency programs.
 
Responsibilities:
The fellow will be responsible for conducting research in the field of spine surgery under the supervision of the spine surgery research faculty. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
 
·        Conducting literature reviews, data collection and analysis, and manuscript preparation
·        Participating in ongoing clinical trials and research projects
·        Presenting research findings at local, national, and international meetings and conferences
·        Participating in weekly spine surgery conferences, residency curriculum, and department grand rounds
·        Active project management of research projects
 
Qualifications:
·        Current enrollment in a 3rd or 4th year medical degree program at a US or Canadian accredited institution
·        Strong interest in spine surgery or related fields
·        Excellent academic record and prior research experience
·        Strong organizational and communication skills
·        Ability to work independently and as part of a team
·        Familiarity with SPSS, SATA, R, or other statistics/programming software
 
Application Requirements:
·        Curriculum vitae
·        Personal statement (500 words or less) outlining your interest in spine surgery and your career goals
·        Academic transcripts from your current medical school
 
Application Deadline:
All application materials should be sent to Sadie Sial at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery (saadia.sial@nm.org) Send application materials as soon as possible as decisions will be made on a rolling basis. The fellowship will begin on July 1, 2024.
 
Compensation:
This is a paid fellowship with a stipend of $20,000 per year.
 
Note:
Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States.

[Guest]

20,000 dollars to lose a year of med school, in an expensive city? That equates to 9 dollars an hour roughly, assuming a 40 hour work week. Absolutely laughable considering they’re asking for graduate level educated workers. Northwestern ought to be ashamed of themselves for attempting to portray slave labor as an opportunity.

[Focus]

A lot of students take a year off for free you know. The good old days of everyone getting doris duke grants are gone.

[Guest]

That’s a bit tough accept that since some do it for free, you should be thankful to get a pittance. It’s almost like how now hospitals in FL can get FMGs that haven’t been through residency, perhaps you should accept $200k since the FMG will do the job for $50k.

[Focus]

It's a free market. I fully encourage no one to apply and hold out for more money, but someone who live in Chicago at home or has a tutoring or other lucrative side hustle will be glad to take it I suspect.

[Guest]

Suggesting that a full time med student has a “lucrative side hustle” is probably one of the top ten asinine posts I’ve seen on this forum. Makes me think the moderator works in said lab and is desperate for cheap labor

[Guest]

Much of medicine is nowhere near a free market. Too many examples to count.

This is no different than the debate over unpaid internships in softer fields like marketing or entertainment: pay well and get applicants from all social strata where competitiveness and network are the biggest factors leading to a job. Pay nothing (or close to it) and get people whose mommy and daddy did everything for them. Not surprising a neurosurgery attending doesn’t care about equity; their families are the ones put at an advantage by underpaying research fellows.

[Focus]

(03-01-2024, 07:17 PM)Guest Wrote: Suggesting that a full time med student has a “lucrative side hustle” is probably one of the top ten asinine posts I’ve seen on this forum. Makes me think the moderator works in said lab and is desperate for cheap labor

You ever heard of tutoring? I paid off most of my medical school in real time tutoring MCAT and then the steps. People are crazy for good tutors with good stats and credentials like being in medical school. I once had a family pay me to teach their undergraduate an entire course of physiology to make sure that he or she would ace the course. We went through the whole Constanzo book. That almost paid a semester of my tuition alone. I bet a number of more motivated medical students are making bank on ticktock and other social media platforms.

(03-01-2024, 09:04 PM)Guest Wrote: Much of medicine is nowhere near a free market. Too many examples to count.

This is no different than the debate over unpaid internships in softer fields like marketing or entertainment: pay well and get applicants from all social strata where competitiveness and network are the biggest factors leading to a job. Pay nothing (or close to it) and get people whose mommy and daddy did everything for them. Not surprising a neurosurgery attending doesn’t care about equity; their families are the ones put at an advantage by underpaying research fellows.

Medical education is not medicine. You don't have to do a no-pay research fellowship to get into neurosurgery. You don't have to do a low-paying fellowship to get into neurosurgery. Do your homework, find a mentor, write a proposal to one of the better funding entities, get a better funded research fellowship. Or, even better, find a program like this with a base salary and ALSO write a proposal to one of the better funding entities.

[Guest]

There is the issue though: while you don’t NEED to, it’s a lot EASIER to achieve the goal of matching if you go to a lab and have a productive research year. Similarly, you don’t need to have a college degree to make money, but you’re much more likely to become a millionaire with at least a bachelors.

By paying next to nothing for research opportunities, you create an elite class of people who are advantaged by their family’s wealth, rather than their ability to push the field forward.

[Guest]

Also, I hope it's clear to everyone here that this is for the ORTHO group. None of the main Northwestern spinal neurosurgeons (Koski, Dahdaleh) are involved, so if you're looking for neurosurgery letters of rec, this isn't a good fit.