Medical Scientist Training Program at Case Western Reserve University - Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. Our School of Medicine launched the first MD-PhD training program in 1956, and the program has a long history of innovation and success with many prominent alumni, including two Nobel laureates. Our mission is to develop MD-PhD training to train a multi-disciplinary pool of physician-scientist leaders to meet future biomedical research workforce needs for research leaders to accelerate research to advance the understanding, detection, treatment and prevention of human disease. Objectives include development of physician-scientists with deep expertise in one or more biomedical scientific disciplines coupled with a broad understanding across biomedical disciplines; skills to independently design and develop research programs; ability to use clinical insights to inform research; and commitment to scientific integrity. Program goals include MD- PhD completion with an efficient time to degree (TTD), publication and grants attainment productivity, post-graduation placement in training programs related to physician-scientist career development, and long-term attainment of productive research careers. Our aims include development of an MD-PhD curriculum that integrates research and clinical training with deep research experiences from the beginning of the program to promote retention of trainees in the research mission and foster curricular efficiency. We will develop required and elective MSTP activities that promote the program objectives, including didactic, research, mentoring and career development elements (RCR, RRR, grantsmanship, research communication and others) and program activities (MSTP Retreat, MSTP dinner seminars, MSTP visiting physician-scientist career sessions). We will work with our research training community to improve PhD programs and training of research mentors in best practices. Our approach includes integration of research and clinical training within each of the three basic phases: first two years (M1-M2), PhD phase (e.g. G1-4), and last two years (M3-M4). The curriculum has flexibility to meet the differing interests and needs of individual students. A key strategy is early and deep engagement with research to promote research career development and retention - in M1-M2, students complete a research rotation or graduate course in every semester in combination with the MD curriculum. Almost all students match into their PhD lab by fall of M2, allowing early launch of PhD research in M2. This is a key distinction for the CWRU MSTP and provides unique curricular opportunities. We will establish a culture of support for students and engagement of student leadership in MSTP Council to shape the program to support student professional development and wellness. We will continue to admit 12-15 students per year. The integrated research and clinical curriculum, program activities, and support for students will produce a highly skilled physician-scientist workforce with a wide range of experiences and scientific/clinical expertise, which will contribute to national goals for basic, translational and clinical research in academia, government and industry.
