Summer scholars in NYU Langone’s Program for Medical Education Innovations and Research (PrMEIR) take part in an eight-week research-focused course. The program is open to students in high school through graduate school. Participants take part in a series of weekly workshops over the course of a summer that provides a window into career paths in the healthcare industry.

Participants are expected to commit a minimum of 20 hours per week to the program, which includes attending mandatory Monday meetings, a weekly team meeting, and at least one professional development workshop.

Project Teams

Each participant is assigned to a team that works together to develop and complete a final project.

Database for Research on Education in Academic Medicine Team

As part of the Database for Research on Education in Academic Medicine Team, also called the DREAM Team, participants work with a large, quantitative Framingham-style longitudinal database that includes information about the relationships between medical education, residency, and fellowship programs and patient health outcomes.

With the guidance of faculty researchers, DREAM Team members assist with various aspects of managing the database, including data abstraction; cleaning, restructuring, and merging various datasets; and developing database infrastructure. Other responsibilities include performing descriptive and inferential statistical analysis; creating tables and graphs to summarize data findings; assisting with manuscript preparation; and editing and finalizing research datasets for statistical analyses.

Unannounced Standardized Patient Team

Participants in the Unannounced Standardized Patient (USP) Team assist with the implementation and evaluation of a quality control program that uses trained actors to go undercover as patients and evaluate medical staff performance at various locations including community health clinics and student health centers.

Team members have helped code our bank of 500+ objective structured clinical exam cases (OSCEs), which assess various aspects of the healthcare experience, including provider responses to chief complaints, patient activation, and shared decision-making. Other responsibilities include data entry, training actors to portray patients, and developing a system to create individual performance reports. Participants work closely with our research staff and faculty to develop a related project, which could include developing research abstracts, posters, or manuscripts.

Business Operations Team

Students who join the Business Operations Team assist program coordinators and staff with the day-to-day operations of the Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) program and the Education for Educators (E4E) program at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Team members gain a better understanding of nonprofit and organizational business operations, programmatic planning, and medical education programs available to people in advanced degree programs. Responsibilities include working with student information, planning class sessions, and organizing study materials. The team works closely with our MHPE program coordinator and staff to develop a project by the end of the eight-week session.

How to Apply

Review the PrMEIR Scholars Summer Intensive Program (PSSIP) application and submit it with the following required materials:

• a resume or CV and a personal statement that outlines your background and future aspirations, as well as your interest in the program
• one letter of recommendation
• one reference
• a writing sample

Please send all application materials in a single email to Lisa Mayevsky, research data associate, at Lisa.Mayevsky@NYULangone.org with the subject line “PrMEIR Summer Scholar Application.” Ms. Mayevsky can also provide information about other volunteer opportunities available in PrMEIR upon request.