Scholarly Activity and Academic Development

Mather strongly supports resident scholarship and academic development. Throughout their training, residents are expected to complete a scholarly activity under faculty mentorship. Scholarly work may include traditional clinical research, quality improvement, medical education, curriculum development, narrative medicine, case reports, systematic reviews, advocacy, or other creative academic endeavors.

Each week, residents participate in a protected didactic day that includes lectures, faculty presentations, journal club, and dedicated scholarly activity. During this time, residents meet with faculty mentors, develop project ideas, conduct literature reviews, analyze data when appropriate, design educational initiatives, and prepare manuscripts, posters, and presentations. Depending on the scope of an individual project and the resident’s academic goals, additional protected elective time may be incorporated into the schedule to support meaningful scholarly work.

Residents are encouraged to pursue projects that align with their professional interests and career goals. Faculty members are actively engaged in a wide range of scholarly activities, including clinical research, medical education, quality improvement, leadership development, and narrative medicine. Faculty have published in leading peer-reviewed medical journals, including JAMA, and a longitudinal narrative medicine curriculum is embedded within residency didactics to foster reflective writing, physician identity formation, and scholarly publication.

Educational innovation is another major area of scholarship within the program. Faculty and residents have collaborated on projects evaluating/developing leadership curricula, physician wellness initiatives using popular culture, simulation-based education, and mock trial experiences that bring forensic psychiatry to life. These and many other scholarly projects have resulted in poster presentations, workshops, seminars, and presentations at local, regional, and national meetings.

Residents present their scholarly work annually during the Program’s Resident Research Day and are encouraged to submit abstracts and manuscripts for presentation and publication. Financial support is available to assist residents whose scholarly work is accepted for presentation at regional and national conferences.