Essential Guide for DO Graduates: Research in Pediatrics-Psychiatry Residency

As a DO graduate entering a Pediatrics-Psychiatry (peds psych) or Triple Board program, you are in a uniquely powerful position to bridge brain, body, and behavior. Research during residency can amplify that impact, opening doors in academic medicine, leadership, integrated care, and policy. It can also feel intimidating—especially if your osteopathic training emphasized clinical skills more than research.

This guide breaks down how to approach research during residency as a DO graduate in pediatrics-psychiatry, how to leverage your strengths, and how to build a sustainable scholarly portfolio even with call schedules, clinic, and exams competing for your energy.

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Understanding Research During Residency in Pediatrics-Psychiatry

Research during residency is not just about bench science or big NIH grants. In pediatrics-psychiatry and Triple Board training, “research” can encompass:

• Clinical outcomes research (e.g., evaluating integrated care models for kids with ADHD and asthma)
• Quality improvement (QI) projects (e.g., reducing antipsychotic polypharmacy in adolescents)
• Medical education research (e.g., teaching residents about suicide risk assessment)
• Health services research (e.g., access to child psychiatry in rural communities)
• Chart reviews and retrospective cohort studies
• Case reports and series of rare or complex conditions
• Community-based and public health projects
• Implementation science (e.g., rolling out a trauma-informed care protocol)

Why Research Matters Specifically for DO Graduates

As a DO graduate in the osteopathic residency match or in an ACGME-accredited program that welcomes DOs:

• You bring a whole-person, systems-oriented lens, ideal for child & adolescent psychiatry integrated with pediatrics.
• You often have strong clinical and communication skills that translate well into patient-centered, pragmatic research.
• You may have had fewer structured research opportunities in medical school—and residency can be your chance to catch up or even excel.

Engaging in research during residency can:

• Strengthen fellowship applications (e.g., child & adolescent psychiatry, addiction, consult-liaison, forensics)
• Support an academic residency track or academic career
• Build your CV for future roles in teaching, leadership, or administration
• Help you understand the evidence that underlies treatment decisions in complex pediatric-psychiatric cases
• Give you tools to evaluate the literature critically and apply it at the bedside

In combined programs like peds psych or Triple Board, research can uniquely span:

• Developmental trajectories (from infancy through adolescence and sometimes into emerging adulthood)
• Intersections of medical and psychiatric illness (e.g., epilepsy and depression, diabetes and anxiety)
• Family systems and social determinants of health
• Longitudinal outcomes across both medical and mental health domains

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Finding and Designing the Right Research Niche

The biggest early mistake many residents make is trying to join “any project” rather than a strategic project. Especially in a dual specialty or Triple Board pathway, time is limited and rotations are fragmented—so your choices matter.

Step 1: Clarify Your Interests and Goals

Before emailing anyone, take an hour to clarify:

• What am I most curious about?
  • Examples:
    • Long-term outcomes of children with autism and comorbid GI disorders
    • Integrated pediatric primary care with embedded mental health
    • Early trauma and later physical health outcomes
    • Psychopharmacology in medically complex pediatric patients
• Where do I want to be 5–10 years after residency?
  • Academic attending on a consult-liaison service?
  • Community-based Triple Board physician leading integrated clinics?
  • Faculty in an academic residency track with curriculum responsibilities?
  • Medical director for a public health or school-based program?

Your research focus should align with these long-term goals—this keeps you motivated and helps your work tell a consistent story on your CV.

Step 2: Map the Local Research Landscape

In your first 3–6 months of residency:

1. Identify research-friendly faculty

   • Child & adolescent psychiatrists with active grants or publications
   • Pediatricians in developmental-behavioral pediatrics, adolescent medicine, or complex care
   • Psychologists or social workers doing program evaluation or outcomes research
   • Physician-scientists in neurology, endocrinology, or emergency medicine with pediatric mental health overlap

2. Scan departmental websites and PubMed

   • Search your institution’s name plus terms like “pediatrics psychiatry,” “adolescent depression,” “autism,” “suicide,” “trauma,” or “integrated care.”
   • Note who is first or senior author—these are often accessible mentors for resident research projects.

3. Attend conferences and research rounds

   • Pediatric grand rounds, psychiatry grand rounds, combined case conferences
   • Ask the speakers afterward if they work with residents on research.

Step 3: Choose a Feasible Project Type

Given limited time in residency, your first project should be:

• Narrowly focused
• Retrospective or QI-based if you’re new to research
• Achievable in 12–18 months from idea to submission

Good starter projects for a peds psych resident:

• Retrospective chart review of:

  • Antidepressant prescribing patterns in adolescents with comorbid chronic illness
  • ED visits for pediatric suicidal ideation and subsequent outpatient follow-up rates
  • Co-occurrence of ADHD and asthma in your clinic and their treatment outcomes

• QI project:

  • Implementing a standardized depression or anxiety screener in a pediatric clinic
  • Reducing no-show rates for integrated behavioral health appointments
  • Improving metabolic monitoring for antipsychotic-treated youth in a pediatric setting

• Case series:

  • Children with autoimmune encephalitis presenting with psychiatric symptoms
  • Adolescents with eating disorders and comorbid inflammatory bowel disease
  • Complex psychosomatic presentations requiring combined medical-psychiatric management

You can always scale up later. The key is a project that you can finish, not just start.

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Practical Steps: From Idea to Approved Resident Research Project

Even a modest project has several moving parts. Building a clear workflow prevents burnout and stalled manuscripts.

1. Secure a Supportive Mentor (or Two)

A good mentor is more important than a glamorous topic. Look for someone who:

• Has realistic expectations about what can be done during residency
• Has a history of publishing with residents or fellows
• Responds to email reasonably quickly
• Is willing to meet at least monthly (15–30 minutes) to keep you accountable

In peds psych or Triple Board, an ideal setup might include:

• Primary mentor in your main area of interest (e.g., child psychiatrist for suicide risk research)
• Secondary mentor from pediatrics for medical comorbidities, or from psychology/biostatistics for methods

When reaching out, send:

• A short introduction (DO graduate, PGY level, peds psych or Triple Board program)
• 2–3 sentences about your interests
• A clear ask:
  • “Would you be open to discussing potential resident research projects in pediatric depression with chronic illness?”
  • “I’m especially interested in outcomes after integrated behavioral health interventions.”

2. Define a Clear Research Question

Use a framework like PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) or a simple guiding question:

• “Among adolescents with diabetes seen in our pediatric clinic, what is the prevalence of depression diagnoses, and how is it associated with A1c control?”

Your question should be:

• Specific
• Measurable with available data
• Clinically meaningful in pediatrics-psychiatry

3. Understand IRB and Ethics Requirements

Even QI and chart reviews may need institutional review board (IRB) input. Tasks usually include:

• Completing online human subjects research training (e.g., CITI)
• Drafting:
  • A short protocol
  • Data collection plan
  • HIPAA-compliant data protection plan

Ask your mentor:

• “Do you have a prior protocol I can use as a template?”
• “Is this likely to be considered QI or research at our institution?”

This upfront work can feel tedious, but it’s essential and highly educational.

4. Build a Realistic Timeline

Your schedule is fragmented: pediatrics inpatient, psychiatry rotations, call, night float. Build in buffers.

A sample 18-month timeline for a DO graduate in a peds psych residency:

• Months 1–3: Identify mentor, refine question, complete IRB training
• Months 4–6: IRB or QI approval, pilot data extraction
• Months 7–9: Full data collection and cleaning
• Months 10–12: Data analysis with guidance
• Months 13–15: Draft abstract and submit to regional or national conference
• Months 16–18: Write and submit manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal

Protect 1–2 hours most weeks as dedicated “research time,” even when you’re on busy rotations. Put it in your calendar like a patient appointment.

5. Learn Just Enough Statistics and Methods

You don’t need a PhD, but basic competency is essential:

• Types of studies: retrospective cohort, cross-sectional, randomized, QI
• Descriptive statistics: means, medians, percentages
• Basic analytic tools: chi-square, t-test, logistic regression (at least conceptually)

Ask if your program offers:

• Resident research or scholarship seminars
• Access to a biostatistician (often available through pediatrics departments)
• Introductory workshops on QI or data analysis

You’re not expected to do everything alone—knowing who to ask can be more critical than knowing every method in detail.

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Balancing Clinical Demands, Exams, and Research

One of the biggest concerns for residents, especially DO graduates navigating USMLE/COMLEX and combined training requirements, is time management.

Leverage the Structure of a Triple Board or Combined Program

Peds psych and Triple Board programs often:

• Rotate residents between pediatrics, psychiatry, and sometimes child psychiatry over 3–5 years
• Include elective or research blocks—sometimes more in later years

Strategies:

• Aim to launch a project while on a lighter or outpatient rotation.

• Use call-heavy blocks for low-cognitive-load tasks:

  • Literature searches
  • Reference management
  • Drafting background or methods

• Reserve elective or research blocks for:

  • Intensive data collection
  • Analysis and writing
  • Meetings with mentors and statisticians

Protect Your Research Identity Without Burning Out

Tips to balance research during residency:

• Set a floor, not a ceiling:
  • Example: “I will do at least 60 minutes of research work per week, no matter what.”
• Break work into micro-tasks:
  • “Read and annotate 2 articles”
  • “Update 10 patient entries in the database”
  • “Draft 2 paragraphs of the introduction”
• Use tools:
  • Reference managers (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote)
  • Cloud storage (OneDrive, Google Drive, institutional platforms)
  • Task tracking apps (Trello, Notion, simple to-do lists)

Communicate clearly with your mentor during high-intensity months:

“I’m on PICU this month with heavy call. I may only be able to maintain data entry and light revisions, but I’ll ramp up next month on clinic.”

Consistency—even at a low level—matters more than bursts of effort followed by long gaps.

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Building a Scholarly Portfolio: From Poster to Publication

To maximize the impact of your efforts, think beyond a single project and toward a coherent scholarly portfolio.

Aim for Multiple Outputs from Each Project

From one well-executed pediatric psychiatry project, you can often produce:

• A poster at your institution’s research day
• A regional conference presentation (e.g., state AAP, state psychiatric society)
• A national or specialty conference presentation:
  • AACAP (child & adolescent psychiatry)
  • PAS (Pediatric Academic Societies)
  • APA, AACOM, or AOA-related conferences for DO physicians
• A manuscript for a peer-reviewed journal:
  • Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
  • Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics
  • Academic Pediatrics
  • Journal of the American Osteopathic Association or specialty-focused DO journals

Talk with your mentor about:

• Target journals appropriate for a DO graduate in an osteopathic residency match background
• How to sequence submissions: abstract → conference → manuscript

Develop a “Through-Line” for Your Career

Even if individual projects are small, they should ideally relate to each other. Examples for a peds psych or Triple Board resident:

• Theme: Integrated care for youth with chronic medical and psychiatric illness

  • Project 1: Depression screening in pediatric diabetes clinic
  • Project 2: QI project improving referral follow-through to child psychiatry
  • Project 3: Case series on somatic symptom and related disorders in adolescents

• Theme: Suicide prevention and crisis care in children

  • Project 1: Chart review of ED visits for suicidal ideation
  • Project 2: Implementation of a standardized safety planning template
  • Project 3: Survey study on provider comfort with suicide risk assessments

Having a recognizable theme supports future roles in:

• Academic residency track positions
• Hospital program leadership
• Fellowship applications
• Grant proposals when you become faculty

Capitalizing on Research During Interviews and Career Transitions

Research during residency isn’t only for your CV—it’s a story you can tell:

• During fellowship or job interviews:
  • Explain what motivated your projects
  • Highlight what you learned about systems of care, disparities, or integrated approaches
• In promotions or academic track applications:
  • Describe how your research questions evolved
  • Show how you incorporated your osteopathic, whole-person perspective

As a DO graduate, you can explicitly connect:

• Osteopathic principles (mind-body unity, preventive care, the role of structure and function)
• With pediatrics and psychiatry research (development, resilience, biopsychosocial models)

This helps differentiate you in academic environments historically dominated by MD pathways.

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FAQ: Research During Residency for DO Graduates in Pediatrics-Psychiatry

1. I’m a DO graduate with little prior research experience. Is it too late to start in residency?

No. Many residents, including DO graduates, begin serious research work during residency. Especially in peds psych or Triple Board programs, your clinical experiences expose you to rich, complex cases and systems issues that make excellent research topics.

Start with:

• A mentor experienced in working with novices
• A manageable project (QI, retrospective chart review, or case series)
• Clear expectations about timelines and your learning curve

Your first project may take longer, but it will build skills and confidence for future work.

2. Will not having publications hurt my chances for an academic residency track or fellowship?

Not necessarily—but having research or scholarly output will definitely help:

• Many fellowships, especially child & adolescent psychiatry, value scholarly curiosity and potential more than sheer numbers of publications.
• Strong letters from research mentors that describe your initiative, critical thinking, and reliability can partially compensate for fewer publications.
• Even a small number of thoughtfully chosen resident research projects and posters can support an academic trajectory.

If your goal is a heavily research-focused fellowship or faculty job, aim for:

• At least one completed project with a poster or oral presentation
• Ideally one manuscript submitted or accepted by the end of residency

3. How can I do research during residency if my program doesn’t have a strong research culture?

Even in less research-intensive environments, you have options:

• Look for regional collaborations with nearby academic centers.
• Join multi-site resident research projects (some national organizations support these).
• Focus on QI, program evaluation, or community-based projects that align with local strengths.
• Use online courses or institutional resources (via pediatrics or psychiatry departments) to build basic research skills.

As a DO graduate, your initiative itself sends a powerful message. Programs often welcome residents who help spark or revive scholarly activity.

4. I’m interested in both peds psych clinical work and research. Do I need to choose between them?

You don’t have to choose a purely research or purely clinical path. Many successful pediatric-psychiatry and Triple Board graduates build hybrid careers:

• 60–80% clinical, 20–40% research and scholarly activity
• Roles in academic institutions with protected time
• Leadership in integrated clinics that also serve as research sites

During residency, seek out:

• Mentors who actively combine clinical work with research
• Programs or positions labeled as academic residency track or with explicit time for scholarship
• Opportunities to embed simple research or QI processes into your everyday patient care

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Research during residency is not about transforming yourself into a full-time scientist overnight. For a DO graduate in pediatrics-psychiatry or a Triple Board pathway, it’s about developing a practical, sustainable scholarly identity that aligns with your clinical passion for children and families.

By choosing feasible projects, partnering with the right mentors, pacing your efforts, and letting your osteopathic perspective shape your questions, you can turn residency into the foundation of a meaningful, evidence-informed career—whether in community practice, academic medicine, or leadership at the intersection of pediatrics and psychiatry.