Medical Scientist Training Program - The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), a free-standing, private medical school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has supported MD-PhD training since 1982 with 69 students currently enrolled in this training program. Our leadership team has over 50 years of association with the program with each member leading a component of the program and includes a medical educator with experience in T32 program evaluation. The mission of our program is to prepare exceptional students for careers as physician-scientists. To accomplish this, we provide a research training experience to conduct hypothesis-driven research in the biological and social sciences and medical education to impart fundamental skills to practice evidence-based medicine. MCW-MSTP welcomes all applicants. Our matriculants are chosen from a large applicant pool of undergraduates, recent graduates, and current MCW medical students through a holistic evaluation that includes research experiences in conducting hypothesis-driven research and possessing strong communication and interpersonal skills. Approximately half of our matriculants have quantitative undergraduate degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science and engineering. MCW-MSTP students have professional training experiences which are stage-specific that include opportunities for vertical integration, committee, leadership, and peer-mentoring opportunities for professional development in team-based and active learning sessions. Formal efforts facilitate programmatic transitions between graduate and medical training, including participation in a clinical clerkship “bootcamp”, a senior trainee facilitated Morning Report, and ongoing clinical exposure during graduate training to maintain competencies. Common activities for MSTP students include annual completion of an Individual Development Plan for self-assessment of progress at one-on-one meetings with the Program Director, an annual Retreat that includes mentoring towards MD-PhD careers outside academia, participation in a national MD-PhD student conference, luncheons with physician scientists and MSTP alumni, and a Women in Science and Medicine Luncheon series. Other professional development activities include a monthly Research in Progress seminar series, twice a year refresher Responsible Conduct in Research sessions and Rigor and Reproducibility workshops, participation in a Mechanism’s of Humans Disease medical school course and a 2-credit graduate school Individual Fellowship Writing course for first-year graduate students that also comprises the student’s mentor-approved dissertation outline and proposal. Participating faculty mentors participate in annual CIMER/AAMC-orientated professional development activities. Over the past 10 years, our alumni have had strong publication outcomes for first-author publications with their mentor, success for F30/F31 funding, and matching into research-oriented residency programs, while graduating from our MSTP in 8.0 years.
