About Boston Specialists
Established in 2015, Boston Specialists, LLC is a tertiary referral center providing specialized medical care to patients with various allergic and/or gastrointestinal disorders. The mission is to improve the health of the sick, teach future health care providers, and to build a strong community.
About the Pre-Med Gap Year Clinical Research Program
At Boston Specialists, we are focused on executing clinical research efficiently and effectively. We are an approved IRB research site, and we are at the leading edge of change and development in the allergy and GI fields. We partner with major industry sponsors to conduct phase 1-3 clinical trials. Our research rotation offers hands-on clinical research experience for trainees as well as the opportunity to present posters, and co-author peer to peer publications. This is a two year position beginning in January 2023 OR May 2023. The first five months will be spent learning the fundamentals of clinical research under the guidance of Dr. John Leung and the rest of the research team. The selected applicant will then be responsible for leading all aspects of our research program.
How your experience will differ from research at an academic institution:
- Daily, hands-on patient interaction at research visits
- Opportunity to attend all research procedures (endoscopies/colonoscopies)
- Work side by side with Dr. John Leung and other investigators on a daily basis
- You will learn every aspect of clinical research from study start-up through publication
Your Responsibilities will include:
- Conduct research visits with patients (phlebotomy skills preferred)
- Attend all research procedures with Dr. John Leung
- Process and ship all biospecimens collected for each visit
- Patient recruitment and retention
- Attend NIH and industry sponsor meetings for study updates and training
- Negotiate budgets and contracts with major industry sponsors
- Complete IRB submissions
- Complete data entry
- Organize and maintain all study records including regulatory binders, subject binders and other study materials.
- For internal projects, you will be asked to assist with protocol design, statistical analysis, literature reviews and drafting manuscripts/abstracts
Our current research focuses on the following conditions:
- Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders
- Celiac Disease
- Food Allergy/Intolerance
- Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria
Applicant Criteria
Because our gap year program is highly intensive, we look for students who are committed to pursuing a career in medicine and are fastidious, resilient, and quick learners. We also look for good team players who are amiable and possess excellent communication skills. In addition, we are looking for the following criteria:
- Only applicants with a GPA >3.8 and MCAT >510 at the time of application are encouraged to apply.
- Only candidates who are committed to applying to medical school are encouraged to apply.
- Applicants with prior research publications are strongly encouraged to apply.
We are hiring for a January 2024 or May 2024 start date.
If you do not meet these criteria, you may still consider our volunteer program.
For more information, please visit: https://www.bostonspecialists.org/training.