Week 1: Principles of Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Anaisabel, and I’m a senior at Basis San Antonio Shavano Campus. Through the course of these 10 weeks, my research will focus on improving the prevention of chemotherapy-induced heart complications in cancer patients. I will do this by working with Dr.Rojas to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of research papers that are relevant to the subject. At the end of the 10 weeks, I will hopefully have the opportunity to present my findings to other medical professionals and to continue working with Dr. Rojas in person at the MD Anderson Cancer Center over the summer.
I’m glad that I’m able to do a project that reflects my interest in pursuing Cardiology and that I’m given the chance to work with medical professionals and conduct clinical research. Although I won’t be in person at a clinic for my project, I’m still hoping my research will be influential in some manner as I combine studies already conducted to form a stronger conclusion. I can also use the experience to identify areas in which more research can be conducted.
This week I spent time familiarizing myself with the form of research I will be conducting. The initial steps to Systematic Review included meeting with my advisor to set the parameters for what research papers I would use and the databases that I should use to find these research papers. I also learned how to document this selection process, which is important for increasing the credibility of my research and showing that my selection process is unbiased.
As I began looking into the process of conducting a meta-analysis synthesizing data from research papers, I realized that I had to also fill in my knowledge gaps on a multitude of statistical concepts before I began my research. It was through this that I learned about confidence intervals, effect sizes, and how to assign weight to studies.
I know my project will give me the opportunity to gain knowledge regarding a multitude of other areas, and I am enthusiastic about what the next few weeks will bring! Thank you for reading and sticking around. See you soon!
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