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excited about your work. Enthusiasm may also be an important indicator of the potential impact you believe your research question will have on current practice, and thus whether you are focusing on the best question. 2. Innovation: A second principle to be adhered to is innovation (5). Is the research being done likely to change current concepts of a disease or improve the human condition? Is the research significantly different from others in the field? If not, is the research significant and is it worth doing? 3. Attend lectures or seminars outside your field: Often new techniques or scientific concepts develop in fields unrelated to yours but may offer avenues for producing new insights and discoveries. Broadening your horizons outside of your particular area of focus can help avoid tunnel vision and facilitate innovative thinking and novel approaches. 4. Avoid PAIDS (paralyzed academic investigator’s disease syndrome) (5). The idea of PAIDS was first discussed by Nobel laureate Joseph Goldstein describing a condition of some 30 CHAPTER 5 — KEY ISSUES IN BASIC SCIENCE EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH investigators when their work leads them to a new critical challenge outside of their comfort zone, such as a factor that needs to be purified or a new gene that needs to be cloned. However, rather than tackling these new challenges they move laterally to easier pursuits. When investigating a topic, do not be afraid to learn new techniques or invest necessary energy into critical but difficult projects. They are often the most rewarding. 5. Differentiate yourself from your mentor: While pursuing research with your mentor, be on the lookout for projects or ideas that will distinguish your work from your mentor’s. This will be an important consideration as you pursue independent funding and faculty promotion. 6. Focus: Peter Rosen once said, “Pick a topic and focus on it.” This axiom is as true for life as it is true for success in academic emergency medicine. The new investigator should begin with one or two clearly defined research projects with reasonable objectives. As you progress in your career, your colleagues should be able to easily identify your focus by the common themes of your lectures and publications. Becoming distracted by other research projects can result in decreased productivity and lack of research focus. 7. Collaboration: Given the increasing complexity of basic science research, it will become critical for future success to identify mutually beneficial collaborations with research partners. Identifying existing program project grants at your own institution or elsewhere in your field can help conceptualize potential collaborations between basic science laboratories. Additional rules such as those above regarding the approach to research are nicely summarized in the ten commandments of research by Kahn et al. (5). CONCLUSIONS In this review, we have identified the five key aspects of basic science research in emergency medicine: mentorship, area of study, model selection/development, resources, and funding. Of these, mentorship is the most important. The history of academic medical science is built on successful collaborations and research partnerships. Mentorship is the critical initial foundation for this academic success. Successful mentorship will likely guide the junior investigator in handling all other aspects of basic science research. Here we have highlighted other aspects of a successful research program and other potential sources for reading on these topics (8). In addition, principles for a successful career have been listed. Participation in basic science research holds great promise to further develop our medical specialty. Novel diagnostic and clinical strategies for time-sensitive emergency treatment will be developed more rapidly through discoveries in the laboratory. Thus, a basic science research career holds tremendous promise for improving the lives of many patients well beyond our own clinical work. REFERENCES 1. Rosen P. The biology of emergency medicine. JACEP. 1979;8(7):280-283. 2. Becker LB. Cellular resuscitation, basic science, and the future of emergency medicine. Ann Emerg Med. 1989;18(8):896-897. 3. Kaji AH, Lewis RL, Beavers-May T, et al. Summary of NIH Medical-Surgical Emergency Research Roundtable. Ann Emerg Med. 2010;56(5):522-537. 4. Bettmann M. Choosing a research project and a research mentor. Circulation.. 2009;119(13):1832-1835. 5. Kahn CR. Picking a research problem. The critical decision. N Engl J Med. 1994;330(21):1530-1533. 6. Fisher TF, Vanden Hoek TV. Pursuing the Investigative Scientist Career Pathway: how to write and be successful in the grant application process. SAEM Career Guide. 2007:33-36. 7. Arnett DK. Preparing effective grant applications. Circulation. 2009;120(25):2607-2612. 8. Whitley TW, Spivey WH, Abramson NS, et al. A basic resource guide for emergency medicine research. Ann Emerg Med. 1990;19(11):1306-1309. CHAPTER 6 — TRAINEES AND EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH 31 INTRODUCTION The training of an academic emergency physician typically occurs in three steps — medical school, emergency medicine residency, and fellowship training — with substantial increases in medical knowledge and experience occurring at each stage. It is both natural and appropriate for the acquisition of clinical 

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