Timely Cultivating of Scientific Insights Through Research: The Future of Medical Education

Leilani B. Mercado-Asis

Dec 2025 DOI 10.35460/2546-1621.2025-0258     Access   

Abstract

Research plays a critical role in advancing medical practice and patient care, yet its integration into undergraduate medical education remains challenging. Early exposure to research enhances critical thinking and provides valuable experience in scientific inquiry, communication, and publication. However, medical students face barriers such as limited time, topic selection difficulties, and inadequate mentorship and funding. The establishment of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Santo Tomas has strengthened student research capacity, culminating in this JMUST Special Issue, which showcases high-quality, ethics-approved student-led scholarly work.

  1. Oliveira CC, de Souza RC, Abe EHS, Silva Móz LE, de Carvalho LR, Domingues MAC. Undergraduate research in medical education: a descriptive study of students’ views. BMC Med Educ [Internet]. 2014;14(1):51. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-14-51
  2. Siemens DR, Punnen S, Wong J, Kanji N. A survey on the attitudes towards research in medical school. BMC Med Educ [Internet]. 2010;10(1):4. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-10-4
  3. Kuhnigk O, Böthern AM, Reimer J, Schäfer I, Biegler A, Jueptner M, et al. Benefits and pitfalls of scientific research during undergraduate medical education. GMS Z Med Ausbild [Internet]. 2010;27(5):Doc72. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3205/zma000709
  4. Mokhtari B, Badalzadeh R, Ghaffarifar S. The next generation of physician-researchers: undergraduate medical students’ and residents’ attitudes, challenges, and approaches towards addressing them. BMC Med Educ [Internet]. 2024;24(1):1313. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06166-8

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which permits use, share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material, as long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.