There are three pathways for CIP training:
- The Continuous Training (CT) pathway, involves a minimum of 24 months of continuous, intensive, research training, which can be done at different points in residency.
- The Fractionated Training (FT) pathway is intended to allow for a distribution of a minimum 24 months of research during training, in periods of 3 months or longer blocks, with one year of continuous research training. The FT option is for individuals who wish to pursue research that requires more than several years to plan a research project, obtain research ethics board approval and complete the project, which may involve patient recruitment to a study. This pathway is particularly suitable for clinical epidemiology research, where intensive research activities will be separated by long waiting periods.
- The Distributive Curriculum Training (DCT) pathway is intended for outstanding residents who have research experiences prior to entering a residency program. In the DCT pathway, there is coordinated entry into the PGY1 year for both CIP and the specialty program. The PGY1 and PGY2 years in the DCT pathway are identical to a traditional specialty training program but the PGY3 equivalent is distributed over the PGY3 to PGY5 years, with three months of selective time in the PGY3 year utilized for research and completion of some clinical training requirements during the research block. In the DCT pathway, there are 27 months of research experience.
The research component of the CIP may be satisfied within a Faculty of Medicine graduate program at UBC or, with permission of the CIP director, within an external research and educational institution. The research component of the CIP will be supervised by a primary supervisor and a supervisory committee. The supervisory committee must consist of at least three faculty members at the Assistant Professor level or higher. At least one of the members of the supervisory committee must (a) be a member of graduate faculty, (b) hold peer-reviewed funding, (c) represent the involved residency training program.
The research supervisor must have an appointment with a University (not necessarily UBC). The supervisor must have a track record of peer reviewed publications. The supervisor must have the necessary grants (funds) for the project to be conducted as only the resident’s salary is paid. The supervisor must provide the necessary space for the resident to conduct the project, i.e. laboratory space, desk, computer access. The supervisor must have experience in supervising graduate students. It is preferential that there are peers in the supervisor’s research group that the resident can interact and learn from.
If the supervisor is inexperienced and can not fulfill the latter two (2) requirements, we suggest the younger supervisor team with a more experienced supervisor so the appropriate guidance and environment is available.
If the resident is doing their research at a location other than UBC, a member of the resident’s supervisory committee must have a UBC appointment.
The clinical component of the program is identical to the RCPSC approved residency training program in the specific discipline with the exception that, with the approval of the department and division head, one year may be used for research training. Thus, the CIP adds a minimum of one year to the residency training. During the two year research training no more than 20% of a regular work week may be spent on clinical work, unless it is an integral part of the research. However, candidates are encouraged to take advantage of ongoing rounds, academic clinical events and academic half day sessions.