What is Utah StARR?
The Utah Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (Utah StARR) is designed to prepare outstanding residents for a career in academic medicine and clinical investigation by providing them with opportunities to learn and practice clinical, transitional, health service, and community-engaged research skills during their residency training. Utah StARR will provide an early "on-ramp" to research careers for competitive academic faculty positions.
Participating residency programs:
- Family Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Combined Medicine-Pediatrics
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Neurology
- Occupational Medicine
The program main components are: career mentoring, individual development plan, non-degree coursework, research seminars, grant writing, pre-submission grant review, pre-award support and writing workshops. Click here for an overview of the Utah StARR resources.
Because the recruitment and training of clinician-researchers is such a high priority at the current time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has implemented a loan-forgiveness program for doctors who commit to a career in clinical research. Individuals in the Utah StARR program may consider applying for the loan-forgiveness program when their residency is completed.
Additional information about the program or information on application procedures, please visit our application information page or email us at utahstarr@utah.edu.
You may also download and reference our informational slides for more information: /media/21071
UStARR Scholar Highlights
Access Archived UStARR News
UStARR ArchiveUtah StARR Scholars Present at University of Utah Internal Medicine Grand Rounds
The title of the presentation was "Future StARRs: Highlighting the Work of our Senior Residents in the Utah StARR Program".
You can view the recording of their talk here, or by visiting the Internal Medicine Grand Rounds archive: https://medicine.utah.edu/internal-medicine/grand-rounds
Meet the Utah StARR Program Directors

Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH, is a board certified family medicine physician who specializes in acute and chronic diseases and full spectrum care. He received his medical degree from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Dr. Okuyemi completed a family medicine residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center and obtained a master’s degree in public health while on the faculty at the University of Kansas. He also completed a research fellowship at Morehouse School of medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. His professional interests include improving the health of racial/ethnic minorities and other socio-economically disadvantaged individuals, addressing health disparities/equity, socio-cultural and behavioral risk factors impacting health outcomes, professional development and mentoring. In his leisure time, Dr. Okuyemi enjoys reading and spending time with family.

Molly Conroy MD, MPH is a Primary Care Provider and General Internist at the Madsen Internal Medicine Clinic. As a General Internist, her clinical interests include physical activity and lifestyle counseling, weight management, cardiovascular disease prevention, hypertension management, and women’s health. Dr. Conroy received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her MD from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed an Internal Medicine residency in the Primary Care Track at the University of California, San Francisco and a General Internal Medicine Fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and recognized as a Fellow of both the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association.