CDU Advantage Research Pillar – A Conversation with Dr. Shahrzad Bazargan
This is the fourth in a series of conversations about the CDU Advantage published in The Sharpest Scalpel. Excellence in Specialized Knowledge and Research is designed to shape the identity of the University both internally and to the public at large, especially those who are interested in the many distinguishing characteristics that shape the CDU educational experience. As this conversation reveals, there are many ways to characterize the importance of research as a professional tool in the medicine / science-based academic setting.
Dr. Bazargan is the Research Director for the Psychiatry Residency Training program at CDU, the Chair of Medical Student Research Thesis in the CDU / UCLA Medical Education Program, and the Director of Faculty Development in the College of Medicine at CDU. This conversation has been edited for brevity- Editor
What has driven your interest in research over the course of your career? That’ s probably one of the most interesting questions of all the questions that I have ever been asked. And, and it’ s a question that I also bring up with my trainees, whether they’ re students or residents or junior faculty. You must have the intellectual curiosity: i. e., a curiosity for lifetime learning. I feel like when you know you that you are a researcher, your lifetime is that of a student. I like being a lifetime student and go through research topics that I have never been involved with before. I constantly have to learn, and I love that. Once you produce a piece of research, and you think that your work is making a difference, that’ s a good feeling.
Does research training lead to a more fulfilling professional career, in your opinion? I think it does. It gives you an opportunity to work in different areas, as a career. It puts you in a position where you can collaborate, you can expand your network, knowing that you can connect and network with people over an idea and learn from them and exchange ideas. It’ s very fulfilling to me. I really like that, even with the students. A researcher is always learning and we’ re striving to fill in the gap of knowledge and it feeds your curiosity.
What are some examples of the more interesting research studies that you’ ve encountered at CDU? I started my research career at CDU being a principal investigator of a CDC project at that time. This goes back to late 90s, when tuberculosis was quite prevalent at in California, especially in Los Angeles. I got funding from the CDC to do directly observed therapy. I had to go to downtown to Skid Row and actually give medication to the patients and watch them take it and then after that, I was I got involved with emergency department related research doing substance abuse therapy, especially alcohol and working with residents and attending in the emergency department when we had emergency medicine training as CDU.
It was interesting time of my life because I had to go at seven o’ clock in the morning with a box of pastries and talk in front of the attendings and train residents. Tell them that why I wanted them to screen for alcohol when they have a patient that is injured because doctors are not supposed to know their patients in the emergency department. But most of the doctors do know them, because these patients come back so often, then eventually screening and brief intervention and referral for treatment became an evidence-based skill or tool.
And then during 2008 and 2009, it was so difficult to bring more money back to the University. I was recruited to the position that I am right now which is the chair of medical student research and in that position, we started focusing on health disparities. We made the theme of all student research health disparities. Being a social scientist and medical sociologist, the idea of how to integrate social science into medicine was very challenging for me, and
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 39