Clinical Colorectal and Minimally Invasive Research Fellow at Marks Colorectal Surgical Foundation

The year-long Marks Colorectal research assistant experience has helped premeds prepare for careers in medicine and successfully apply to leading medical schools for almost 2 decades.

Time Commitment

One year starting Summer 2026, preferably in May.

Description

This outstanding opportunity allows a highly-motivated student interested in clinical research to play a vital role at a research-oriented surgical practice and gain important experience as a researcher through this fellowship year. Throughout the year, the research assistant works on a multitude of research projects, markedly improving the strength of his/her medical school application. Marks Colorectal Surgical Associates specializes in minimally invasive surgical techniques and sphincter-preserving rectal cancer management. As such, Drs. John Marks, Gerald Marks, and Henry Schoonyoung have consistently been at the forefront of their field, offering valuable contributions to the literature. It is this dynamic mixture of academic and clinical medicine that affords the research fellow the unique chance to gain meaningful exposure to the operating room, clinical rounds, and patient clinic settings. 

Twice each month, the research fellow works closely with Dr. Marks’ Surgical Fellow to create a presentation consisting of recent interesting/difficult cases, which is then presented to a multidisciplinary panel of physicians at Rectal Cancer Management Conference. About 40% of the research fellow’s time is spent collecting data on advanced minimally invasive procedures in state-of-the-art laparoscopic and robotic operating suites. The research fellow’s primary responsibility is their integral role in managing the practice’s surgical databases and in utilizing this data to prepare abstracts and manuscripts for submission to surgical/oncologic conferences and publications. Such opportunities allow the diligent worker to make significant additions to their curriculum vitae and learn the scientific method over the course of the year. Projects this year have included publishing manuscripts in journals such as Diseases of Colon and Rectum and Journal of Surgical Endoscopy, contributing to a chapter to be published in the "Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery" textbook, writing multiple abstracts which were submitted (and accepted) to the professional conferences for SAGES, SSAT, SSO, and ASCRS, as well as helping to prepare presentations for national and international meetings and webinars. 

Please note that this position has an excellent track record of gaining applicants acceptance to competitive medical schools. Please note that this position has an excellent track record of gaining applicants acceptance to competitive medical schools. Interested individuals may apply by sending their transcript, CV and cover letter to our research office at crresearch@mlhs.org with title: "Research Assistant Application - LAST, FIRST NAME". Please specify in your cover letter when you can start the job.