Research & Networking

Participating in research, Langfitt events and department conferences are the most effective ways for students to get involved in neurosurgery at Penn. While funding opportunities and conference times are provided below, please do not hesitate to reach out to labs for research or attendings to shadow directly!

 

Research Funding Opportunities:

The following links are the major avenues through which Penn students obtain summer research funding.

1. NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship

2. The Guggenheim Family Neurosurgery Scholarship

3. Short-Term Research Opportunities

Department Conferences:

Every Thursday (unless otherwise noted), there are a series of educational events sponsored by the department of neurosurgery. These events are organized into a series of 1-2 hour-long talks and lectures in which featured faculty and outside speakers discuss important issues in neurosurgery. These lectures are open to medical students and are an invaluable resource to learn more about neurosurgery at Penn. The weekly schedule below lists events that are open to student attendance.

In addition to the weekly department-sponsored events, there are also events sponsored specifically by the Langfitt society. These events are focused on developing student interest in neurosurgery and usually occur on a monthly basis. All interested medical students are encouraged to attend these meetings, the agenda for which is set in advance by Langfitt's president. Upcoming meetings are listed below.

 

Weekly Schedule:

  • 7:00-8:00am - Neurosurgery Grand Rounds (TRC, 8th floor conference room)
  • 8:00-9:00am - Brain Tumor Conference (TRC, 8th floor conference room)
  • 4:30-6:00pm - Radiology Case Conference (Silverstein 3 Conference Room)

Driving Simulation Study Research Opportunity

Driving is a complex task that requires decision-making integration across visual, motor, and cognitive systems. Neurosurgical patients, particularly those who have suffered TBI, brain or spinal surgery procedures, are prone to deficits in skills important for safe driving including attention, memory, hand-eye coordination, reflexes, and judgment. The current gold standard of evaluating neurocognitive and motor dysfunction involves a lengthy battery of tests, which can be overwhelming and obtained in an untimely fashion. Furthermore, these tests may not always have external validity. 

To fulfill the need for a fast and low-resource method of assessing cognitive performance in neurosurgical patients, we are using a driving simulator (Diagnostic Driving, Inc.) that measures metrics such as reaction time, speed, number of collisions. Our primary analyses include comparing individual patient virtual driving assessment (VDA) scores across study time points, correlations between VDA scores and neuropsychological assessment scores, associations between VDA scores and questionnaire responses, and associations between VDA scores and patients’ medical conditions, surgery types, and medication usage. 

We are looking for a motivated MS1 student to assist in the collection of data and analysis alongside the Penn Presbyterian Neurosurgery clinical research team. Skills you will gain include understanding of clinical research workflow, communication with patients, statistical analysis, and data interpretation. If you are interested in applying, please email the PI: isaac.chen@pennmedicine.upenn.edu and CC justina.bagger@pennmedicine.upenn.edu with your CV, expected commitments, and a short paragraph description of why you are interested in the project. 

Should you choose to apply and be selected, we kindly ask that you spend at least 6 months with the project. If you have any questions about the project, please email rohith.bhethanabotla@pennmedicine.upenn.edu