For University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine student Parker Juels, what started as a simple class assignment to write a letter to the editor of a research paper unexpectedly became an opportunity to get published in a medical journal — a powerful resume and confidence builder.
Juels, currently a third-year medical student, received the assignment last year from Benjamin Vipler, MD, an associate professor of hospital medicine in the CU Anschutz Department of Medicine. Vipler directs a longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) program for second-year medical students at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) that focuses on inquiry, meaning the program teaches skills in formulating and seeking answers to questions.
As part of his teachings, Vipler created a new assignment where students write a reaction to a research article of their choosing, encouraging them to submit their letters to the medical journal that published the original research. With hopes of making medical writing less intimidating and displaying its value to students, Vipler was thrilled to see most of his students, including Juels, get their letters published.
Now, Juels and Vipler are preparing to highlight the value of this assignment on a national stage. They are collaborating to create an educational workshop for the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, which they will present in April 2026 in Seattle as part of the upcoming Academic Internal Medicine Week conference.
“My first publication was a letter to the editor, and when it was published, I felt a positive dopamine hit that made me want to write more,” Vipler says. “If I can give that feeling early on to students, that’s something I want to do.”
As an internationally recognized medical writer known for publishing introspective articles, Vipler is well-versed in the power of medical writing to propel new ideas and questions forward within the fields of science and medicine.
“I like to do non-research medical writing, which is a main form of dialogue that we use in the medical community,” he says. “Impactful papers are not always necessarily research papers. Sometimes, it is a perspective article or letter to the editor that can inspire more dialogue, questions, and research.”
At the CU Anschutz School of Medicine, second-year medical students are divided into one of 16 LIC programs, which are hosted at a variety of medical institutions across the state. Under this unique model, students choose an LIC program based on their interests, with concentrations ranging from inquiry to advocacy. When Vipler assumed an LIC director role at UCH, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for him to teach medical students how to dip their toes into medical writing by giving them a letter to the editor assignment.
“My first foray into medical writing was when a mentor asked me to write a letter to the editor,” he says. “It was the first paper I ever wrote and was an easy process, so I thought, ‘That’s how I got into publishing. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity for students?’”
Vipler implemented the assignment for the first time during the previous academic year, asking each of his students to find a research paper that piqued their interest and write a response to it. He explained there are several avenues a person can take when writing a reaction, such as finding a flaw in the original study, highlighting something the researchers did not explore, or examining if there was a patient population that was not considered.
“I tried to match my assignment criteria to be similar to the criteria of the journals, so it would be easier for students to submit the letter for publication,” he says.
Although it was not required for students to submit their letter to a journal to get published, Vipler encouraged them to do so. Ultimately, 12 students submitted and seven were accepted for publication — an acceptance rate of roughly 58%. Vipler says this is a surprisingly high rate given that it is generally estimated that 30% of letters get accepted. For a few of those students whose letters were published, the original research authors also responded to their letter.
“That 30% statistic includes very experienced medical writers, and the fact that we were able to get such a high number with relatively novice medical writers was really cool,” Vipler says. “The students were amazed when their letters were accepted, but I think the most shocking was when they got the authors’ responses. It was really motivating, surprising, and enlightening for them.”
When Juels was first given Vipler’s assignment, he never thought it would lead to him getting published.
“I thought, ‘I’m just a medical student, I don’t know how to respond to a published paper. Those authors are professionals — what viewpoint can I add to this?’” he recalls. “But I was excited to interact with the literature and at least try writing something.”
At the time, Juels was interested in the field of dermatology, so he began perusing different research articles in the field until he found one that captured his attention — a study, published in the journal JMIR Dermatology, that compared how accurate and informative different AI tools were for educating patients about common dermatological conditions.
“In my letter, I brought up that the researchers didn’t really compare the AI tools to the traditional tools we have, such as the pamphlets we are giving patients, to assess how valuable AI may be compared to what we use today,” he says.
With Vipler’s encouragement, Juels submitted his letter for publication, saying it was an easy process. When he got an email a month later from the journal, he expected to see a rejection.
“I was shocked when I saw that it was accepted. For me, it showed that I had something important to say and my thoughts were actually contributing to a conversation, and I was so excited about that,” Juels says. “It’s also something I can put on my resume, showing that I am engaging with medical literature.”
Juels was the first of Vipler’s students to submit his letter, and he became one of several students who received a response from the original authors. He was nervous when he first saw the authors had responded, fearing they would disregard his thoughts or feel insulted. Instead, the authors wrote, in part, “Parker highlights an important consideration regarding AI in dermatology … We appreciate the critical thought that Parker discussed about the implications of our work and the role of AI in dermatology.”
“It felt like a really respectful discourse, and it also felt validating because I had noticed something that could be explored by others in the future, whether it be by them or someone else,” Juels says. “In the end, we’re all focused on how we can best help patients.”
One of the greatest lessons Juels got from Vipler’s assignment was to view medical literature as “a living body” that is constantly evolving, rather than to view published research as definite fact.
“It’s made me engage with research in a different way. Now, I critically think about research, how it can improve, and how it can be applied to patients in a more nuanced way,” he says.
Given the success of the assignment, Vipler not only wanted to continue giving this assignment to future classes of his LIC students. He also wanted to share the assignment with other medical educators. Wanting to share the student perspective, he asked Juels to help him create a workshop that they will present next spring at a national conference with academic internists.
At the conference, Juels hopes to explain to educators that this assignment was valuable because it showed him how to write a letter to the editor, enhanced both his skillset and resume, boosted his confidence to take ownership of future projects, and taught him how to engage in medical literature — a critical skill he plans to use throughout his future career.
“One of the main points I want to share is that students enjoy trying novel activities like the one Dr. Vipler created,” Juels says. “Sometimes, I think educators don’t want to try new things because they think their students won’t engage in it. But we like being involved and helping pilot projects — it’s exciting, and we find it helpful.”