Virginia Research Day 2025

Medical Student Research Education and Simulation

11 All of Us Database Educational Module - An Effort to Increase Research Accessibility for Students in Rural Communities

Pranav Varrey 1 ; Ramzi Badra 1 ; Leona Jafari 1 ; Ramu Anandakrishnan 2 Corresponding author: pvarrey@vcom.edu

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Virginia Campus

Research experience is a vital component of a medical student’s education; however, many students face challenges in securing meaningful research opportunities. Studies have shown the primary barriers to be limited time, a lack of available research mentors, and concerns about receiving proper acknowledgment for their contributions. Additionally, heightened restrictions around access to electronic health records in many hospital systems, driven by litigation risks, further limit research opportunities. To address these challenges, the Student Research Connect initiative was developed. This program empowers students to lead their own research projects at their own pace, guided by mentors who provide supervision with minimal time commitment.

Following these principles, a select group of students were given the opportunity to conduct retrospective cohort studies utilizing publicly available data. The All of Us governmental database was created by NIH in 2018. The aim was to collect medical, demographical, and behavioral data from minority populations, and underserved areas. Currently the database houses data for over a million participants all over the country. With such a massive dataset it is possible to observe clinical trends in various areas of health. NIH has allowed individuals in the public to access this data when they have received the proper training. With public access, this database has been applied in numerous ways, which have led to over 500 publications. Despite the database's numerous

applications, there is difficulty navigating the database, and applying all the functions the database provides. This time-consuming learning curve may deter many students from using this database. To address this issue, we created a module to navigate this database. This module will include topics such as how to create an account, how to select for your target populations, how to select for your target variables, and how to extract the data onto an Excel sheet for convenient data analysis. The module will also demonstrate some of the built-in analytic features that the database includes. By creating this module, we hope to reduce the barriers that medical students face when trying to conduct research.

IRB Approval Pending

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