Since 2013, students interested in science and medicine have trained in research methods, writing, and career development at the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, NC. In 2024, the program expanded to include a five-week program specifically designed for medical students. 

Expansions to the STAR Program

Use the buttons below to learn more about each program, including eligibility, compensation, and application deadlines and requirements.

In the first two weeks of the in-person program, participants meet with their faculty mentors and develop a specific question or issue related to the uses and effects of a particular medication. The teams then perform a thorough review of the literature and develop an in-depth description of the research question. Participants who are 18 years and older will also experience clinical medicine firsthand by shadowing a physician on hospital rounds.

During the in-person weeks, the teams develop a thesis consisting of a description of the research question, aims, methods, figures/tables, results, and discussion for their specific project. Throughout this time, a medical writer provides tutorials on developing a scientific manuscript, a statistician provides lectures in applied statistics and works with students to analyze data, and Duke medicine and pediatrics faculty members give lectures on neonatology, antimicrobial therapy, and pharmacoepidemiology. The program also includes a medical ethics seminar on the responsible conduct of research.

To review progress and ensure the scientific validity of their work, program participants meet with their mentors weekly. At the conclusion of the in-person program, teams do a formal presentation and, in early August, complete a written thesis of their project. The papers are included in articles submitted to peer-reviewed scientific journals, meaning that the participants have the potential of having their work published.

"I feel like the program has given me a lot of space to think deeply about where I want to go in a way I haven't had the time to do prior." STAR Program attendee

Publishing research can be a critical step toward a scientific or medical career. It provides recognition from the scientific community and an opportunity to build relationships with others who are doing research in the field, who can provide feedback and offer ideas for future research. Publishing also provides the opportunity to get results out into the world. Even if research findings are groundbreaking, they will not make any difference if no one knows about them and cannot apply them to real patients.

Some examples of previously published articles by Duke's STAR program participants include:

The program capitalizes on world-renowned training programs in place at Duke University under the leadership of Sarah Armstrong, MD, professor of pediatrics and professor of family medicine at Duke, and Danny Benjamin, MD, PhD, distinguished professor of pediatrics at Duke and deputy director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Other faculty in the STAR Program are actively involved in NIH-sponsored research in clinical pharmacology, statistics, epidemiology, therapeutics, and trials. Combined, these faculty members have more than 200 publications on which trainees are listed as either first author or co-author. The team of instructors also includes a writing instructor, statisticians, and operations staff. View profiles of the instructional team members.