Why Research? By Dr. Ken Tao
Definition of Research
Research is a systematic process designed to answer questions, gather evidence, and discover (or verify) knowledge. In medicine, it can take many forms:
- Basic Science Research: Conducted in laboratories to understand cells, genes, and fundamental biological processes that underlie diseases.
- Clinical Research: Involving human participants through clinical trials or observational studies. These can test the safety and effectiveness of new treatments, or track how diseases progress over time.
- Public Health Research: Focused on populations and communities, studying factors like nutrition, sanitation, and access to healthcare. This type of research identifies large-scale trends, such as how certain lifestyle habits can reduce the risk of chronic illnesses.
Regardless of the type, medical research follows a systematic plan—collecting data, analyzing results, and presenting findings. This is how new knowledge is added to the field of medicine.
Why Research Matters for Future Physicians
- Evidence-Based Care: Modern medicine relies on scientifically validated evidence to decide which treatments work best for patients. For example, if a new medication is tested in a clinical trial and the results show that it’s more effective than existing treatments, doctors may adopt that new medication into patient care. Your future role as a physician could involve interpreting emerging research to make informed decisions about diagnosing and treating your patients, ensuring they receive the most effective and up-to-date care possible.
- Innovation & Problem-Solving: Some of the greatest breakthroughs in healthcare—like vaccines, organ transplantation techniques, and groundbreaking cancer therapies—began with a research question that challenged the status quo. Often, physician-scientists notice patterns, pose critical questions, and conduct studies that lead to innovative solutions. By learning to think like a researcher, you train yourself to be curious, critical, and open to new ideas. This mindset fuels lifelong learning and opens doors for creative problem-solving in medicine.
- Resilience & Adaptability: Research often involves encountering obstacles and setbacks. Experiments can fail, data may be inconclusive, and unexpected variables can derail an entire study. This process demands resilience—the capacity to bounce back from failure and adapt your methods. As a future physician, you’ll face tough challenges with patients as well: not every treatment will work as hoped, and sometimes you’ll need to pivot quickly to new strategies. Engaging in research hones your ability to stay calm under uncertainty, seek alternative approaches, and keep pushing forward.
Learn Even More
In Fall 2025, Dr. Tao will share more about his research knowledge, including:
- Effective ways to read difficult scientific articles
- Guidelines for how to organize live chapter journal article discussions
- The importance of journal clubs to future healthcare professionals
Research Fun Fact
Many peer-reviewed journal articles have a DOI (or digital object identifier) number, which is a permanent number for one article. DOIs, unlike URLs, never change.
What does this mean? You can come back to studies with DOIs you read now in five, ten, or fifteen years (and so on), and they will still be there!
Try it out: Paste a DOI number in your search bar, like our article for this month’s DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01553-x
*Please note that not all peer-reviewed journal articles have DOI numbers.
