Hey everyone! My post today is about my journey to working on my current research project with my research mentor, Dr. Judy Chang. I initially came across Dr. Chang’s research during the summer after my freshman year of college. I started to develop an interest in pursuing a career in women’s health during that time and wanted to explore research in obstetrics and gynecology. While scrolling through the Magee Women’s Research Institute’s website in order to find various research that interested me, I stumbled upon Dr. Chang’s group and the work that she does regarding patient-provider communication in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. I was immediately fascinated by Dr. Chang’s research and proceeded to read one of her research papers on a study that she conducted about the communication between providers and patients about illicit drug use during pregnancy. I was drawn to the fact that Dr. Chang was able to study the intricacies of the language styles used by various providers in order to make impactful conclusions that improve obstetric patient care.
In high school and at the beginning of college, I associated research with wet lab work and was not familiar with the many diverse styles and techniques of doing research. After reading more about communication research and specifically Dr. Chang’s work, I asked Dr. Chang if I could become a part of her research group as I was interested in the unique research that she was doing with patient-provider communication and wanted to learn more about qualitative research. I initially aided Dr. Chang with transcribing interviews between a medical student and women’s health advocates around the community. Last summer I was able to work with a team as a part of a smoking cessation study targeted at expectant mothers. During this time I learned a lot about the process of conducting qualitative research and obtaining data, as well as the various parameters that are extensively studied. Soon after, I started working with Dr. Chang and a fellow student on the project that I am currently doing, the aim of which is to study patient-provider communication regarding gestational weight gain.
My advice to any student that is currently looking for research is to be open minded and patient during the process of finding a research group to be a part of. I would advise students that are looking for research to read research papers in the field of research that they are interested in to get a better idea of the work that they would like to contribute to and be a part of. After doing this, students should find faculty at the University of Pittsburgh that are doing similar research and utilizing research techniques that the student is interested in learning. While emailing prospective research mentors, students should specify what exactly about the faculty’s lab appeals to them as opposed to plainly asking if they can be a part of the lab/group.
As someone who wants to attend medical school and have a career in direct patient care, my current research will play a large role in helping me achieve my goal of being a physician that patients trust and confide in. The words that we use while communicating with one another can have a huge impact, and my current research is a prime example of that. In researching the various language styles that various OBGYN care providers use to communicate with their patients, I can develop my own patient communication skills which will help me in the future. Moreover, having the chance to conduct research now will allow me to continue doing research in the future as a part of my career. (Image credit: mageewomens.org)
