The benefits of research focus

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200 program. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,040 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,080 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,680 I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it's a pleasure to be talking with you today. 14 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,400 Thank you so much for tuning in and listening. 15 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:16,480 Today we're talking about the benefits of research focus, and the reason I want to talk 16 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:22,440 to you about this today is because the last couple of weeks, I've been in what I call 17 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:23,440 a grant writing vortex. 18 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:28,240 You know when you have a number of grant submissions and you're doing back-to-back submissions? 19 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:33,600 I imagine you've either been there or have witnessed someone who's done that, and I will 20 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,400 tell you that it really does feel like a vortex. 21 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:41,600 I probably have upward of 200 emails that I still need to go back and process, but one 22 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:47,200 of the things that was so helpful in the place of writing these three grants is that even 23 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,040 though it really did take a lot to pull these grants together, one thing that was helpful 24 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,080 was that the grants were all along the same theme, and so I wasn't submitting the same 25 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:57,740 grant over and over again. 26 00:01:57,740 --> 00:02:02,120 It really was a different grant each time, but it was all in the same theme, in the same 27 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:07,960 disease space, in the same area of disease focus, and so I'm interested in thrombotic 28 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,800 thermocytopenic perfora and bringing patients to early diagnosis. 29 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:19,880 I'm a health services researcher, and I was able to kind of with the same patient population 30 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,960 and with the same focus write three separate grants, and it was cool to be able to do that, 31 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:32,760 and I recognized in doing that the advantage of research focus. 32 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:38,240 I don't know about you, but a lot of times kind of over the course of my evolution, still 33 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,440 evolving as a clinician scientist, mentors would say, you've got to choose one thing 34 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,720 and focus like a laser, and you know how hard it is to focus? 35 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,360 I'm an internist, right? 36 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,480 I as an internal medicine physician, I love so many things. 37 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,040 I didn't subspecialized right away. 38 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:00,040 I didn't subspecialize right away because I love internal medicine, and many of us are 39 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,360 interested in many things, and it's like how can we do just one? 40 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:10,600 And so the whole recommendation to focus is hard, but I understood its benefits with these 41 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:15,040 last three submissions, and I just want to share with you why you should also consider 42 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:19,280 choosing only one area of focus in your research program. 43 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,600 Okay, so I have five reasons. 44 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:28,800 The very first one I want to share is the depth of expertise that you can have. 45 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:35,000 The more you specialize, the deeper you go, the more you know, the more you become the 46 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,120 expert in this one space. 47 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:47,720 And it is so helpful because it means you're not always having to go looking for new information. 48 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:52,620 Every time you have to create a new grant or create a new presentation in an area that's 49 00:03:52,620 --> 00:03:57,640 outside of your focus, it takes a long time to do that because you have to go read the 50 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:02,680 literature and then you have to see, well, what's new and what is the gap. 51 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:08,240 The more you work in one area, the more you understand the area, the more you understand 52 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:17,240 the nuances, the more you understand the gaps that need to be filled, and it just becomes 53 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,880 easier to grow your expertise in this space. 54 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,200 And so it's one of those things where the more you put in effort, the more grants you 55 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:32,080 write out of this research focus, the more papers you write out of this research focus, 56 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:38,160 the more presentations come out of this research focus, the more understanding you have about 57 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,280 this one subject matter. 58 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:46,160 And for this reason, whenever somebody has a question in this one area, you're the go-to 59 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:51,080 person because, hey, it's pretty much all that you do. 60 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:58,000 And so there's value to having that deep level of expertise in one subject. 61 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,680 And yes, you may feel like, oh, but that's so boring, but every area is so deep. 62 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,540 It's like you skin the surface or you go really deep. 63 00:05:07,540 --> 00:05:14,680 It really gives you permission and opportunity to go deep into one area, and there's so much 64 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:16,640 opportunity in that. 65 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:22,960 And so if you are someone who's thinking about why focus in one research field, one benefit 66 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:28,980 is the depth of expertise that you develop, which makes it easier to continue to produce 67 00:05:28,980 --> 00:05:33,080 things along the area of your research expertise. 68 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,000 So that's another thing. 69 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:42,400 The second thing I would say is that it helps you to have very clear goals, clarity, such 70 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:43,400 clarity. 71 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:50,760 And clarity is important if you're ever going to propose some work. 72 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:52,480 You're going to write a grant proposal. 73 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,840 If you are so clear on what you're doing and where you're going, it's easier to make it 74 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:00,280 obvious to the person who's reading your grant that you are clear. 75 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,160 They can see where you're going because you can see where you're going. 76 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:04,680 If you're fuzzy, they're fuzzy. 77 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,200 And the reason they're fuzzy is because, well, if you're fuzzy, then you can't present a 78 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,560 clear picture of where you're going. 79 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:16,480 And so the ability to focus in one area allows you to think about that area over and over 80 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:22,140 and over again until you get to a point of clarity of how you want to contribute, how 81 00:06:22,140 --> 00:06:26,160 you want to take the gaps and fill them, and what it leads you to. 82 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:27,160 What's the next step? 83 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:28,240 And what's the next step? 84 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:30,280 What's the next step after that? 85 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:36,400 And it allows you to set priorities, to plan the studies that you're going to do or the 86 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,600 experiments, and it allows you to measure progress really well. 87 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:44,160 You're just very clear because it's like this is the one area of focus. 88 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,640 Okay, there might be different things within this area of focus, but there's only one direction 89 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:50,120 in which we're going. 90 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,400 There's one big outcome that we're trying to get to, and it just allows you to have 91 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:55,400 that clarity. 92 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,240 And I have to tell you that clarity is a gift in life. 93 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:03,360 For you to have clarity on where you're going is so powerful because when you know where 94 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:05,580 you're going, then you can set the direction. 95 00:07:05,580 --> 00:07:06,920 It's like a GPS. 96 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:13,100 You put in the address of where you're going, and yeah, you could take maybe three ways 97 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,920 to get there, but there are only three ways to get there. 98 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:17,920 There's not three million ways to get there. 99 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,440 Now three million ways, super confusing. 100 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,320 Three or four, you can do that. 101 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,400 And so it just helps you have clarity. 102 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:30,000 The moment you have a focus, you know exactly where you're going, it really gives you clarity. 103 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,680 And when you have clarity, you can share your clarity with others, and they're able to see 104 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,800 where you're going and hopefully fund your grant. 105 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,240 The third reason is the ability to have impact. 106 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,880 It is the ability to have impact. 107 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:53,480 So if you publish one paper in one area, it's one paper and it's valuable, you know, and 108 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,900 thank you very much for your contribution. 109 00:07:55,900 --> 00:08:01,540 The more you publish in that space, the more you have impact because you are creating the 110 00:08:01,540 --> 00:08:04,260 body of literature that defines that space. 111 00:08:04,260 --> 00:08:08,080 And so that allows you to really, really have impact. 112 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:15,080 That allows you to really move your work forward in a way that gives you increased stability, 113 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:21,260 that allows you to build collaborations, and allows you to disseminate and apply your findings. 114 00:08:21,260 --> 00:08:28,220 So the more you are focused in one area, the more, you know, a couple of the experiments 115 00:08:28,220 --> 00:08:32,080 or a couple of your studies really move the field forward, as opposed to just kind of 116 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:39,800 like a one-time study that you do, which can still be important and significant, but it's 117 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:43,440 nowhere near the same as doing multiple studies in one area. 118 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:47,920 It really allows your findings to go so much further. 119 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:53,120 And so the power of focus in your research program allows you to have increased impact 120 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,400 in just one space where it's measurable. 121 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:00,200 People can say, wow, this is what you've done because you've done multiple things in this 122 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:01,760 one area. 123 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:06,600 So the benefit of focus is the fact that it gives you increased impact. 124 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:07,600 Okay. 125 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,520 Another thing is it allows you to be efficient. 126 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,780 Hmm, I love this one, efficiency. 127 00:09:13,780 --> 00:09:18,360 So one thing that you want to do, and I hope you're able to do, is align your clinical 128 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,700 work with your clinical research focus or with your research focus. 129 00:09:22,700 --> 00:09:26,520 And it's so helpful because when you see patients, you're thinking about your research. 130 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,940 When you're doing your research, you're thinking about your patients, and they build on top 131 00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:31,040 of each other. 132 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:36,000 It means every clinical experience you have in this space benefits your research, and 133 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:41,680 it means every research activity you do benefits your clinical work. 134 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:44,020 And so they build on top of each other. 135 00:09:44,020 --> 00:09:50,080 It allows your effort to go further because you're not divided between different spaces. 136 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,860 And so it helps you be super efficient. 137 00:09:53,860 --> 00:09:59,040 You can build on your prior work, and over time, you're accumulating knowledge and data 138 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,000 that's always relevant, that's always helpful. 139 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:07,880 And even when your progress seems tiny, even when it seems incremental, over time, it's 140 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,200 like a snowball. 141 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:15,800 It has just very, very, very small growth, and then it expands, and it really, really 142 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:16,800 compounds. 143 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:18,560 It's like compound interest. 144 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:23,640 And so the fact that you're able to focus in one space and move one foot forward in 145 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:30,000 front of the other allows you to really become efficient, and it allows you to compound the 146 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:31,680 effects of your knowledge. 147 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:35,600 So it really helps you become efficient. 148 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,080 And that's even... 149 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:38,600 Actually, that's my next one. 150 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:39,600 Sorry. 151 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:40,960 I was jumping ahead of myself there. 152 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,360 Number five is that it makes grant proposals easier to write. 153 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:46,360 Okay. 154 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:48,000 So why is it easier to write? 155 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:55,840 Well, if I'm writing about TTP, and then I go to write the next grant, a lot of the stuff 156 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:57,240 is still relevant. 157 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,200 And so, yes, it may not be the exact same significance and innovation, but there's a 158 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:02,200 lot of overlap. 159 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:07,840 And a lot of the foundational information I need to write one grant in TTP is the same 160 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,320 information I need to write the next grant, and the next grant, and the next grant after 161 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:12,320 that. 162 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:19,320 And it makes it easier to put proposals together because there's overlap in the big theme, 163 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,240 and it allows you to now focus on the nuances of how the approach might be different, how 164 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,080 the aims might be different. 165 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,360 And then another thing that's a side benefit, still within the umbrella of making the grant 166 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:38,320 proposal writing a little bit easier, is that many times, funding agencies want to see a 167 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:44,800 clear focus, a clear research agenda, so that they can see where this research will go. 168 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:51,080 When people talk about the future directions, when you're focused in one area, one thing 169 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,560 builds on top of the other, build on top of the other, so that the path forward becomes 170 00:11:55,560 --> 00:12:00,680 more clear than if it feels like, well, you're just taking one bite out of this puzzle. 171 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:01,680 Where is this going? 172 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:03,620 And so it definitely helps. 173 00:12:03,620 --> 00:12:09,000 It makes it easier for you to write the proposals because you're able to take things from the 174 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,560 last proposal and incorporate it into the next one, and then take things from this one, 175 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:17,040 incorporate it into the next one, and it really is powerful to be able to do that. 176 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:22,240 And so anyways, I just want to talk about these things, and so actually I'll recap. 177 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:23,480 So I talked about five things. 178 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,020 So number one is that it really allows you to have a depth of expertise. 179 00:12:27,020 --> 00:12:30,560 Number two is that it helps you to set very clear research goals, and having that clarity 180 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:32,760 is so, so powerful. 181 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:37,420 Another thing it helps you do is increase your impact, and then helps you be efficient 182 00:12:37,420 --> 00:12:41,680 in your research when you can overlap the work you're doing in your clinical work with 183 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:44,040 the work you're doing in your research space as well. 184 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:48,480 It allows you to build on your prior work, and then it makes grant proposal writing a 185 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:53,920 little bit easier because you are literally not creating anything new with the next grant. 186 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:59,280 You're creating some new things, but you're able to repurpose a lot, which makes your 187 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,220 grant writing efforts go a lot further. 188 00:13:02,220 --> 00:13:07,560 So those are some of the reasons why it's helpful to have research focus. 189 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:12,240 Now again, you may be interested in many things, and it's great to be interested in many things, 190 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:17,640 but it's really good when you select one area and really move forward with it because you're 191 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:21,640 able to move forward with it so much faster, and you become known for this one thing. 192 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,800 Anyway, so I encourage you to think about it, think about how you can incorporate that 193 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:32,600 into your grant writing and into kind of moving your research career forward. 194 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,880 If that's been helpful to you, please send me a DM. 195 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:37,200 Let me know how it was helpful. 196 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:43,720 Better still, leave a voicemail on our website, ClinicianResearcherPodcast.com, and share 197 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,440 your thoughts about the benefit of having a research focus. 198 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:55,720 And if you are the person to leave a voicemail, we will play it on one of the next episodes 199 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,080 and I'll incorporate it into a future episode. 200 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,080 So I hope you'll take time to do that. 201 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,400 All right, please share this podcast with someone else who needs to hear it. 202 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:14,840 I look forward to talking with you again the next time. 203 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:20,200 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 204 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:25,480 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 205 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:27,000 have a mentor. 206 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:33,120 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 207 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:34,880 Someone else needs to hear it. 208 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,920 So take a minute right now and share it. 209 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:44,380 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 210 00:14:44,380 --> 00:14:57,280 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.