Graduate Diploma in Health Research (GDipHR)

The purpose of the GDipHR is to provide selected 1st-year medical students an opportunity to participate in the continuum of research – from idea creation to data collection to scientific publication and/or presentation at a scholarly meeting – via a consecutive 20-month longitudinal research program. Students will also be exposed to course work to a broad range of research concepts, topics, methodologies, and applications to health care. Newly established in 2018/2019, GDipHR superseded the CREMS Research Scholar Program, which was introduced with much success in 2010.

Students Merge onto the Clinician-Scientist Superhighway

Duration

The GDipHR Program runs from the beginning of January of a given year to the end of August of the following year. That is, GDipHR covers from the beginning of the 2nd term of Year 1 of the MD Program until the end of August between MD Years 2 & 3 and includes a total of 4 weeks’ vacation.

Supervisor Eligibility

GDipHR includes a mentored research project, supervised by at least one full-time faculty member. Primary Supervisors must have an unrestricted appointment to the School of Graduate Students (SGS) in the University of Toronto (conferring the authority to independently supervise graduate students), preferably a demonstration of previous student mentorship and available funds sufficient to cover $7,500 which is half of the student’s total stipend ($15,000) and the costs of the student’s research.

Stipend

A GDipHR student receives a stipend of $15,000 for the entire 20-month period; the GDipHR Program will contribute $7,500 and the research supervisor will be responsible for $7,500. The supervisor is also responsible for any costs of the student’s research, extraneous study, and travel expenses (which include, but are not limited to, conferences, meetings, poster printing, etc.). Payments from the Program Office are processed through the internal ROSI/ACORN system via direct deposit to the student’s bank account that is listed on file. Payments from the Supervisor must be set up by the supervisor’s institution either through a finance officer or HR Department. NOTE: The student payment is to be considered an award. The student is expected to clear $7,500. Please contact your payroll or Human Resources department to find out how to process your payments. Institutional processes vary greatly – it is NOT the responsibility of the GDipHR office to know how stipend payments are processed from institution to institution.

Tuition

GDipHR students will be required to pay tuition as part-time graduate students. You can find the current year's fees at Student Accounts In addition, the two summer sessions (after the MD program Years 1 & 2, when incidental fees are not being paid to the MD Program) will each involve sessional incidental fees.

Application

Applicants will apply through a competitive process in the Fall of Year 1 of the MD Program and, if accepted, will start in January of that year. The expected intake is 18 students this year. Acceptance of eligible medical students into the Diploma program will occur as follows. At the beginning of the fall term, all first-year MD students will be notified about the Diploma program and directed to resources including the website, where a list of Faculty project submissions will be located.

Any interested students may apply to the program by submitting the following documents by email to: gdip.hres@utoronto.ca no later than NOVEMBER 26, 2020

NOTE: The adjudicators will be evaluating the documents listed here, not the descriptions of projects posted on the website.

Curriculum Vitae - sent via email to gdip.hres@utoronto.ca
Personal statement explaining their interest in the Program (approx 300 words) - sent via email to gdip.hres@utoronto.ca
Description of a research project they are interested in. sent via email to gdip.hres@utoronto.ca - Students are strongly encouraged to (virtually) meet with the prospective supervisor to ensure that they have a clear understanding of what will be involved in undertaking the proposed research project. A supervisor who receives interest from multiple students is expected to interview and indicate to each student if they are preferred for the project, pending acceptance of the student into the program. A student who is accepted to the GDipHR Program, but is not accepted by the supervisor of their first choice project, will have the opportunity to ask for supervision doing a different project from a list of GDipHR projects that remain available.
Written confirmation of Good Standing in the MD Program (Letter from the program, signed by Registrar/Vice-Dean) - sent via email to gdip.hres@utoronto.ca
Undergraduate and graduate academic transcripts for any previous programs of study. At the initial application phase, an email copy to gdip.hres@utoronto.ca will suffice. Once you are accepted into the program, you will be required to supply an original transcript. This is to be sent either electronically by the University OR a mailed original.

Applications will be submitted to the Adjudication Committee on December 1, 2020, for competitive selection. Adjudicators will assess each application for overall acceptability as well as provide a cumulative numerical score for rank order. These scores will be returned to the GDipHR Coordinator no later than DECEMBER 8, 2020

The students with the top applications will be informed of their selection by December 11, 2020 Once the student/supervisor pairs are notified, the Supervisor has until December 17, 2020 to commit to the student by agreeing to terms and signing off on time commitments and requirements.

Courses

The Diploma consists of 2.5 full-course equivalents (FCE):

MSC1991Y Supervised Research Project – mentored, supervised, and experiential learning. The supervisor provides guidance as needed during the conduct of the project, during reflection upon what has been learned thereby, and during the dissemination of novel results to target audiences. This classical form of research learning is considered essential to graduate-level research training.
MSC1992Y Research Skills for the Physician Scientist – consists of four Parts of equal (0.25 FCE) weight, with a blend of lectures, seminar discussions, project assignments and online material
Elective Graduate Level Half Course – chosen by students from a list of courses offered by the Institute of Medical Sciences, the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation.

About Research Skills for the Physician Scientist (MSC1992Y)

This course is presented in 4 parts of equal weight (0.25 FCE), spread out over five consecutive terms. Students are introduced to advanced concepts pertinent to health-related research. They provide a basis for understanding approaches and methodologies applicable to the broad range of research fields included in the four pillars of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.

PART 1: PREPARING FOR RESEARCH

Lectures by research faculty about specific approaches to bridging gaps in knowledge in their field; topical areas including ethics, problem-solving, and decision-making.
Presentations by students and group discussions of the plans for their projects in the companion Supervised Research Project (MSC1991Y) practicum courses.

Self-guided online teaching element on writing research grants.

PART 2: Translational Research Topics for Health Professionals

Seminars by faculty experts on their areas of translational research
Approach to a research question and problem-solving
Journal club critiques of assigned research papers by students

PART 3: Special Topics in Health Research

Faculty presentations illustrating the application of health research principles and techniques such as quantitative and qualitative techniques; statistical analysis / clinical epidemiology / clinical research; basic biomedical/molecular / developmental / stem cell biology; public health/education / health services/health economics research; knowledge translation/quality improvement
Journal club critiques of assigned research papers by students

PART 4: Dissemination of Results

Communicating the results of research to a variety of audiences
Seminars on career development issues, including communicating with potential employers, the media (TV, radio, newspapers), trainees at all levels, the general public, publishers, funding agencies, peer reviewers, applicants for funding/training positions, university and hospital administrators, government, industry
Student oral presentations of the results of their research projects
Poster presentation at Medical Student Research Day (MSRD)

Program Scheduling - Relationship between MD and Diploma Programs

All Diploma students must also be registered in the undergraduate MD program, which has Fall and Winter terms in each year, but not Summer terms in the first two years. The Diploma program will begin at the start of the second (Winter) term of the MD Program’s first year. The Diploma students will be registered on a part-time basis program over 5 consecutive terms, proceeding with a registration sequence of winter/summer/fall/winter/summer. Therefore, Diploma students will also be registered concurrently as full-time MD students in the Winter term of the first MD year and during the Fall and Winter terms of the second MD year. In order to limit the additional workload generated by Diploma-related activities during the regular MD program, the aggregate of Diploma activities will occupy at least 40 hours per week during the Summer sessions, but no more than 10 hours per week during the Fall and Winter sessions. The scheduling of MD for-credit activities early in the MD program provides the opportunity for MD students to pursue cognate academic activities, such as the GDipHR.

Time Commitments & Requirements for Completion

In order to successfully complete GDipHR, certain requirements must be met in addition to the research project. Failure to complete these requirements may result in the student being terminated from the program.

WHEN	REQUIREMENT	EVALUATION
Orientation Period MD Year 1 January to May	Students must have registered with SGS in courses: *MSC1991Y* – Supervised Research Project *MSC1992Y* – Research Skills for the Physician-Scientist Students must attend the weekly 1-hour seminars of the didactic course MSC1992Y Perform all preparations needed to begin the actual project. This will include literature, reviews; meeting with supervisor; ensuring administrative tasks are taken care of (e.g. stipend set up, ID badge, hospital/institute orientation) NOTE: *All of the on-site prep is the responsibility of the student and the faculty supervisor.* It is recommended that students not spend more than 8-10 hours per week on GDipHR during this term.	Students will submit by late April, a written research plan, which the supervisor will grade as Credit/No Credit by the middle of May The primary supervisor will recruit at least 2 additional SGS-appointed graduate faculty to form a supervisor committee (analogous to an MSc student’s committee) and schedule the first meeting early in the Summer.
Summer I MD Years 1 & 2 June – August	Students work full-time on their MSC1991Y research project and attend MSC1992Y seminars. Students may arrange with their supervisor to have 2 weeks of vacation between the conclusion of this summer experience and the onset of Year 2 Note: If interim evaluations suggest that reasonable progress in research is not being made, the student may be removed after appropriate consultation.	Students may request a meeting with the GDipHR Director (Dr. Neil Sweezey) or the GDipHR Coordinator (Lisa Charrette) to discuss any concerns.
Medical Student Research Day MSRD MD Years 2 February	Students will participate in the annual MSRD, including submission of an abstract with preliminary research findings in the form of a poster presentation at the event	To be judged for prizes
MD Year 2 September to May	Maximum of 8-10 hours/week of continued research under the same supervision during the normal MD curriculum
Summer 2 Between MD Years 2 & 3 June – end of July	Students work full-time on their research project with the aim to complete all experimental work, data analysis, and writing and submission of results for peer review. Students will attend MSC1992Y seminars. Students may negotiate with their supervisor to have 2-4 weeks off between the conclusion of this summer experience and the onset of Year 3	By the end of August, the student must submit a final research report in a prescribed format. This report will be graded Credit/No Credit by the supervisory committee (not including the primary supervisor)
Medical Student Research Day MSRD MD Year 3 February	Students will participate in the annual MSRD, including submission of an abstract with preliminary research findings in the form of a poster presentation at the event	To be judged for prizes

WHEN

REQUIREMENT

EVALUATION

Orientation Period

MD Year 1

January to May

Students must have registered with SGS in courses:

MSC1991Y – Supervised Research Project

MSC1992Y – Research Skills for the Physician-Scientist

Students must attend the weekly 1-hour seminars of the didactic course MSC1992Y

Perform all preparations needed to begin the actual project.

This will include literature, reviews; meeting with supervisor; ensuring administrative tasks are taken care of (e.g. stipend set up, ID badge, hospital/institute orientation) NOTE: All of the on-site prep is the responsibility of the student and the faculty supervisor.

It is recommended that students not spend more than 8-10 hours per week on GDipHR during this term.

Students will submit by late April, a written research plan, which the supervisor will grade as Credit/No Credit by the middle of May
The primary supervisor will recruit at least 2 additional SGS-appointed graduate faculty to form a supervisor committee (analogous to an MSc student’s committee) and schedule the first meeting early in the Summer.

Summer I

MD Years 1 & 2

June – August

Students work full-time on their MSC1991Y research project and attend MSC1992Y seminars.

Students may arrange with their supervisor to have 2 weeks of vacation between the conclusion of this summer experience and the onset of Year 2

Note: If interim evaluations suggest that reasonable progress in research is not being made, the student may be removed after appropriate consultation.

Students may request a meeting with the GDipHR Director (Dr. Neil Sweezey) or the GDipHR Coordinator (Lisa Charrette) to discuss any concerns.

Medical Student Research Day

MSRD

MD Years 2

February

Students will participate in the annual MSRD, including submission of an abstract with preliminary research findings in the form of a poster presentation at the event

To be judged for prizes

MD Year 2

September to May

Maximum of 8-10 hours/week of continued research under the same supervision during the normal MD curriculum

Summer 2

Between MD Years 2 & 3

June – end of July

Students work full-time on their research project with the aim to complete all experimental work, data analysis, and writing and submission of results for peer review.

Students will attend MSC1992Y seminars.

Students may negotiate with their supervisor to have 2-4 weeks off between the conclusion of this summer experience and the onset of Year 3

By the end of August, the student must submit a final research report in a prescribed format.
This report will be graded Credit/No Credit by the supervisory committee (not including the primary supervisor)

Medical Student Research Day

MSRD

MD Year 3

February

Students will participate in the annual MSRD, including submission of an abstract with preliminary research findings in the form of a poster presentation at the event

To be judged for prizes

NOTE: In order to complete the Graduate Diploma in Health Research, with an official record on their University of Toronto academic transcript, graduating MD students will have successfully completed the following courses:

MSC1991Y, Supervised Research Project (Credit evaluation of the Final Report by the Supervisory Committee)

MSC1992Y, Research Skills for the Physician-Scientist

An approved elective Graduate half course