Great contributions: medical students in research

The pressure to get involved in research at medical school can be huge, and some will wonder what skills they have to offer to a research team as a relatively inexperienced medical student. Yet some of the most prestigious scientific breakthroughs have been made by medical students. The identification of the islets of Langerhans, shown on our cover, was made by German medical student Paul Langerhans in 1869. Then, in 1922, Charles Best, a Canadian medical student, was part of a team that isolated insulin from the islets of Langerhans, and successfully used it to treat diabetes in both dogs and humans. In our feature (doi:10.1136/sbmj.g2138), we look at the other figures who made important contributions to medical research while still medical students.

There are plenty of opportunities to take part in research at medical school—you could even go abroad. In their feature (doi:10.1136/sbmj.g2038), Lindsey Roeker and colleagues tell you