What the research profiles of this year's 11 incoming residents actually look like, by specialty relevance, presentations, and notable activity, not just publication count.
Source: CaRMS program descriptions
Selection weights
Selection weights not published
What the program says it looks for
- Real interest in psychiatry, backed by experience in the field and knowledge of what the work involves
- Work ethic, teamwork and leadership
- Professionalism and strong communication
- A solid academic record and strong reference letters
- Commitment to academic inquiry and scholarly work, with research and other scholarly activity preferred but not required
- An understanding of the educational opportunities at McMaster and how they would benefit training
Where research appears
Research is reviewed in the file review (Research/Publications) and the interview (Scholarly activities), and residents complete a quality improvement project, a grand rounds presentation and a department research day poster during training.
CMG stream
51 to 200
applicants per year
76 to 100%
interview invite rate
IMG stream
51 to 200
applicants per year
0 to 25%
interview invite rate
Inference, not the program's wording
Research has no separate published weight. For the CMG stream, most applicants are interviewed, so research is unlikely to decide who gets an interview and, if it matters at all, it matters more at final ranking. For the IMG stream, few applicants are interviewed, so interview offers are decided at file review, which includes a research component, though the program does not say how much research counts within it. The program does not publish exact selection weights.
Gaps: The program publishes no selection weights or interview counts, CaRMS lists stream quotas as approximate, and some wording on the program's regional campus pages appears carried over from another campus or the prior cycle.
Schools are shown as a set only and are not matched to the individual research profiles below, since that pairing could make individuals identifiable.
The whole published record is one sole-authored editorial in Academic Psychiatry, a psychiatry education journal. It is a short reflective commentary rather than a study, so it sits at the lightest end of the research spectrum, though it is directly on topic and carries sole authorship.
Notable: contributing writer for an online peer-reviewed publication for medical students, which is education and writing work rather than counted research.
One first-authored systematic review and meta-regression in Substance Use and Misuse, examining how demographic and study factors relate to outcomes in trials of cognitive behavioral interventions for alcohol and other drug use. It is squarely addiction psychiatry and was done within a US psychiatry research group.
Notable: second author on a conference abstract about trends in restraint and seclusion by patient race and ethnicity on an adolescent inpatient psychiatry unit, a clinically focused topic. Abstracts are not counted as publications.
No publications or research activity were found in public sources. Zero does not mean none exist, only that none were found in public sources.
Both papers are first or second authored and both sit outside psychiatry. A second-authored population-based cohort study on long-term kidney outcomes in children with hypertension appeared in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, and a first-authored paper on building anatomy lab activities through a student-faculty partnership appeared in the International Journal for Students as Partners.
Notable: the anatomy education project grew out of an undergraduate student partnership and was presented at a teaching and learning meeting in 2022.
1
adjacent specialty research
The deepest psychiatry record in the cohort, with five of six papers directly relevant and three first or second authored. Most of it draws on one large depression trial dataset: baseline anxiety and early improvement as predictors of escitalopram outcomes (Journal of Affective Disorders, first author), sex differences in sexual functioning (Journal of Psychopharmacology), side effects in anxious depression (Brain and Behavior), and pain interference (Psychiatry Research), plus a randomised crossover trial of deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression (BMJ Mental Health). The adjacent paper is a pilot educational intervention for people with traumatic brain injury and caregivers (Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences), classed as neurology.
Notable: completed a summer AI in medicine student research program applying machine learning to predict psychotic spectrum symptoms in youth, and appears on a preprint on processing speed in cerebrovascular disease, which is not counted. Earlier undergraduate work includes a co-authored social science review on religion and violence, outside science and healthcare and therefore not counted, and co-organizing a wellness circle for international students.
Two papers, both outside psychiatry. A first-authored study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology MFM tested an inflammatory marker for postpartum cardiovascular risk screening after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and a fourth-authored systematic review and meta-analysis in Cardio-Oncology compared liposomal doxorubicin with other anthracycline regimens for heart failure and cancer outcomes.
Notable: presented a maternal health research poster earlier in training, which is not counted as a publication.
No publications were found in public sources. Zero does not mean none exist, only that none were found in public sources.
Items found under a matching name were confirmed to belong to a different researcher and were excluded.
Notable: held an elected medical student government role and was part of a microgrant-supported team that built an education boot camp on gender-affirming care.
No publications or research activity were found in public sources. Zero does not mean none exist, only that none were found in public sources.
No publications were found in public sources. Zero does not mean none exist, only that none were found in public sources.
Items found under a matching name were confirmed to belong to a different researcher and were excluded.
No publications were found in public sources. Zero does not mean none exist, only that none were found in public sources.
Notable: listed as a masters-level research trainee on a national acute stroke registry project.
* Published after June, most likely listed on the original application as in preparation or pending publication.
Two middle-authored papers, both outside psychiatry. A third-authored retrospective study in Urology used quantitative voiding cystourethrogram features to predict renal scarring in children with vesicoureteral reflux, and a fifth-authored case report in Annals of Internal Medicine: Clinical Cases* described influenza-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
Notable: presented a pediatric urology poster on the same study and an earlier lung cancer radiation oncology abstract, neither counted, and contributed to an oral presentation on a scoping review of empathy in residency training. Hosts and evaluates episodes for an educational psychiatry podcast, which is directly relevant education work.
Reading this data
Published research is thin across this cohort. Five of 11 profiles show no confirmed publications, including all three IMG profiles, and only three profiles include a psychiatry relevant paper. Six of the 14 confirmed papers come from a single profile, the only one built around a body of psychiatry work, centered on one depression trial dataset and its follow-on reports.
Where papers do appear, most sit outside psychiatry, spanning pediatric kidney disease, obstetrics, cardio-oncology, urology and internal medicine. Education, writing, podcasting and equity focused work show up across several profiles with little or no published research, so publication volume is only one part of what these files show. Program weightings may change from year to year.
