What were the best parts of this year?

The personal relationships I built, my exposure to clinical experience, my mentors’ direct advice, and being in a city with an up-and-coming-food scene (New Haven is excellent for that!) were my favorite parts of the research year.

What were the most challenging parts of this research year?

The hardest part of the research year was writing. I was born in Peru and raised in Puerto Rico. Traditionally, Puerto Ricans are considered to be “fluent” in English and Spanish, but the latter is the more dominant spoken language. Writing in a foreign language can be a challenge since the semantics, vocabulary, and written expressions are different if one is a non-native speaker. Practice makes perfect, but I still have lots to learn. I was also lucky enough to work with people who are talented in writing and who were patient with me when it came to helping me improve my writing skills.

Also, being alone in a pandemic sometimes made me feel a little lonely. However, the support system from my peers here and family at home was crucial in overcoming this difficulty.

The advice I would give to someone embarking on a research year?

1. Ask for advice early on to make sure that a research year is suitable for you and will help you achieve your goal.
2. Always have more than one option when applying to research positions and then choose the one that best fits your goals.
3. Reach out to well-known individuals in the field.
4. Aim for funded positions first, but be open to unfunded positions. Funded positions might be difficult for someone without prior research experience.
5. I was able to go to the operating room as part of my research (to take videos, for graft acquisition)– make sure to ask your mentor about these types of opportunities
6. Ask your mentor if you can shadow them clinically during your research year. This will expose you to the clinical aspect of the specialty, help you create social awareness on how to behave in the clinical setting, and can allow you to get yourself known among the other faculty and residents.
7. Learn statistics (crucial to have projects done faster!).
8. Prioritize your health – you may or may not have tons of free time. Depending on this try to work out 15-20 minutes a day and eat healthy. If working out is not a possibility, commute to work by either walking or biking. This will lower your stress levels and make you feel good about yourself!
9. Do not get discouraged! Not all papers are created equal and you may face rejections from multiple journals. That does not mean you should give up. There are tons of steps before a manuscript is published. The process can entail dozens of revisions, rejections, and rewriting. When we see papers being published that is just the tip of the iceberg. Do not give up!

How did I get the position, and how should people approach it?

I obtained my position at Yale through one of my mentors I met during my summer research year at Johns Hopkins. For this reason, I highly encourage you to keep in touch with the people you meet because you never know when they can provide you with opportunities and advice when you need them.