Curriculum in Clinical Research

The objective of the Curriculum in Clinical Research is to enhance scholarly activity, and to promote a scholarly culture, in the Yale Internal Medicine residency programs. The curriculum is organized as an introduction to clinical epidemiology and biostatistics. The content represents a modest yet meaningful introduction to fundamental methods and common applications in clinical investigation.

The curriculum is intended to provide residents with a requisite fund of knowledge, to stimulate academic interest, and to potentially help guide career decisions. The focus is on the structure and analysis of research published in the medical literature. The curriculum thereby provides “tools” for residents to critically evaluate research results encountered by clinicians regardless of their level of training and type of practice.

The format of the curriculum is an interactive series of up to eight seminars. Housestaff are expected to read selected chapters from a core textbook of quantitative clinical sciences, as well as specific journal articles (or other materials). In addition, most seminars include journal articles for discussion that are selected by housestaff. The seminar sessions will answer questions about the readings, discuss the exercises, and address both the theory and the application of principles involved.