Fellowship is a time in your career where you get to pursue the subspeciality you've always dreamed of. You grow clinically and gain experiences in other aspects of the field such as research opportunities and leadership. However, learning how to balance your clinical duties with research and leadership can be challenging. In this article, I hope to give some tips as a fellow in training (FIT) on how to pursue research as a trainee.

From case reports to review articles, retrospective, prospective, registry studies and clinical trials, FITs have the opportunity to learn how to develop these research methodologies. However, it can take time and energy to build a fruitful research project. As you embark on your research journey, one of the first things you must do is ensure you can dedicate the necessary time and find the right mentor for your project. It is very important to identify a mentor early on who can guide you in your clinical interests. Having a focused question with a mentor in that area helps your project develop efficiently.

Next you must identify a topic or question. This question can come from a mentor or a clinical case you encountered. JACC Journals also has a list of topics that are popular among the cardiology community.

Once you've identified your clinical topic or question, the next step is to choose the appropriate research methodology. Starting off with a case report can be a great way to learn how to develop your research skills which can then transition to review articles and beyond. Your case can also be presented at conferences such as your ACC state chapter meeting and ACC's Annual Scientific Session. Developing a case series or a literature review allows you to discuss prior cases while adding to the current literature. Case reports and literature reviews also allow you to stay active scholastically while balancing clinical duties.

Aside from case reports and literature reviews, database studies are another way to contribute scholastically. Database studies can be challenging in that they may require approval from your institutional review board (IRB), which can take several months. There are other options as well such as submitting a research proposal to ACC's NCDR Research.

To avoid becoming overwhelmed, it's a good idea to start several months in advance. Spend some time reviewing the current literature on your topic to build a research proposal. Be sure that your research proposal idea does not overlap with previously published work. Next, review the research proposal requirements, which can take time to gather all of the information.

FITs can play important roles in leading trials as well as basic science research. Traditionally, the belief has always been that trials are led by faculty, but this is not always the case. Equally, with basic science research, there's a notion that you must have dedicated year(s) of bench-side exposure and background in research methodology. If you're a FIT starting fellowship interested in pursuing these endeavors, it's a good idea to express this interest to your program director early on. These two avenues for research require not only early mentorship, but also dedicated time carved out in your training along with funding. This funding can come from institutional or national grants or can be funded by your mentor's grant(s).

Whichever way you choose to get involved with research, start early, identify a mentor and spend time developing a topic that you are interested in. Try to approach one project at a time; this will allow you to balance your clinical responsibilities and the learning that's required to be a great clinician. Along the way, enjoy the journey which will allow you apply what you're learning in your research project to your daily clinical activities.

For more information, visit the NCDR Research page, and the JACC Journals' resources For Early Career Professionals page.

The ACC Quality Summit, a live-format conference, provides a platform for you to present your abstract, connect with health care quality experts, share insights and engage in discussion with peers and mentors on advancing quality care in cardiology. Abstract submissions are currently open. Learn more about submitting an abstract for Quality Summit here.

This article was authored by Ravi Thakker, MD, a cardiovascular disease fellow at The University of Texas Medical Branch. @rthakker92