Clinical Research Fellowship Program

Overview
The Pfeiffer fellowships provide support for Yale medical students to obtain one year of clinical research training that prepares them to become physicians whose practice and research focuses on improvement of health care practices, policies, and systems that affect the quality and outcome of health care in underserved communities and and vulnerable populations in the the United States. To meet these goals, the fellowship has two components:

• An in depth clinical research project supervised by a faculty mentor; and
• A didactic program of training in critical thinking, research methodology, and health care policy.

The fellowship provides seminars and classes to support the second component (see below).

Eligibility
This fellowship award is restricted to Yale medical students. It is expected that students will conduct the research as part of the Yale thesis requirement. Students will generally pursue this fellowship as part of the optional five year medical school program of study at the medical school.

Clinical research program
Applicants to the program must submit a research proposal describing a six to twelve month period of dedicated clinical research supervised by a faculty mentor. The aims of the research must be consistent with the Pfeiffer fellowship program goals. Applications will be evaluated on the quality and relevance of the research and by demonstrated commitment of research mentors to provide strong guidance and support for the student researcher.

Additional training in clinical research and public policy
Pfeiffer clinical fellows will have the opportunity to participate in seminars and classes in conjunction with fellows of the Yale Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. Classes and seminars will include:

• Seminars in health policy and development
• Classes in healthcare research, policy, and management
• Regular research-in-progress meetings

Stipend award and support of research costs
The fellowship award includes a stipend and support for research-related expenses:

• A stipend of $15,000 for 12 months of full-time research (or prorated portion for shorter projects).
• Research-related costs up to $5,000.

Application requirements and process
Candidates for the fellowship must submit a written application which includes:

• A one to two page description of the research aims and methods.
• Two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from the research mentor.
• A budget for research-related costs.

	January 1:	Applications available
	May 4:	Application deadline
	May 18:	Announcement of awards
	July 1st:	Commencement of the research period

Application materials are available from the Office of Student Research.

Current Pfeiffer fellows, mentors, and projects
Eric P. Hazen YSM '01	Project Title: The Effect of prenatal cocaine exposure on children's developing theory of mind. Faculty Mentor: Linda C. Mayes, MD, Department of Psychiatry

Project abstract
Use of cocaine and crack by pregnant mothers occurs at startling high rates in some parts of the United States, particularly within the underserved population of our inner cities. However, the impact of in utero cocaine exposure on the developing child remains unclear. Within the past decade, evidence from a number of sources has suggested that prenatal cocaine exposure adds to neuropsychological deficits in a child's first months to years of life. Less is known, however, about the development of these children as they enter school age. Exposed children may be predisposed to a host of academic, social, and psychiatric problems. In this project, I intend to study the impact of prenatal cocaine exposure on a vital aspect of child development that occurs in the early school age years. This aspect, referred to as the developing theory of mind, involves the child's capacity to recognize that other people have beliefs that are distinct from his own. This capacity is essential to a child's further cognitive, social and oral development, and it can be objectively measured using an experimental paradigm known as the false-belief task. We expect that children exposed to cocaine in utero will show delayed development of theory of mind when compared to a control population. To test these this hypothesis, we will study a cohort of over 400 subjects aged 3.5 to 7 years containing a prenatally cocaine-exposed group and a non-exposed group.

Nathan A. Siegel YSM '01

Project Title: Multiculturalism in medical education. Faculty Mentor: Nora Groce, Ph.D., School of Epidemiology and Public Health

Project abstract
This project seeks to discover how medical students at three universities define cultural competence, if they consider it relevant to their (imagined) practice of medicine, the attitudes they have about the project of cultural competency, and where they think they will encounter cross-cultural differences in their doctor-patient interactions. It is hypothesized that students will be receptive to the idea of cultural competence but have only a vague idea of what it means and will not have a well-formed idea of how it can be incorporated into doctor-patient interactions. Student responses will be solicited here at Yale, at a public university in the east, and at a medical school in the Midwest to give a better cross-section of student opinion. Data will be collected through surveys and ethnographic interviews. Responses from the surveys and interviews will be checked against one another so as to ensure consistency and to identify any problems with the interview or surveys. The goal is to collect 400 completed surveys and conduct approximately 40 interviews.