Medical Scientist Training Program - This application requests support for the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Stony Brook University. Continuously supported by the NIGMS since 1992, our MD-PhD program has a 41-year history of training physician-scientists, many of whom have gone on to make important discoveries and become leaders in biomedical research at academic medical centers across the country. Of our 149 graduates thus far, 30% are still in training in strong academic medical programs. Of those beyond training, 52% have academic faculty positions, many of which are highly prestigious, or are affiliated with university hospitals, 21% have primarily clinical university hospital positions but contribute as educators and have academic connections, 13% have taken on roles in biotechnology / pharmaceutical groups or heath-care leadership, and 13% are in private practice. The goal of the program is to provide a rigorous training path that creates and fosters a physician- scientist mentality and a culture that imbues trainees with the tools, motivation, identity, and drive to pursue careers in academic medicine. Students are exposed to both clinical and basic scientific activities throughout their training, reinforcing the special nature of this program. Core courses unique to our MSTP include monthly seminar / dinners with both internal and external physician-scientist speakers, and a monthly journal club – clinical pathological correlation dinner-evening that combines basic science with clinical applications in an active- learning manner. Our students also receive training in our unique Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science (AACCS); partnership of the AACCS with the MSTP to develop new courses including ones on professional skills resulted in a first-place award from the AAMC. PhD degrees are offered in a wide range of disciplines with the students being guided to undertake high-quality basic / translational science training at SBU, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, or Brookhaven National Laboratory to address problems relevant to human health. Being on the same campus with the rest of our large university, we have particularly strong computational, AI, and Bioinformatics training programs and resources. The MSTP has grown from 58 students 10 years ago to 77 now, 51% of whom contribute to diversity of our physician-scientist training pool. The annual institutional support to the MSTP has correspondingly increased, the applicant pool size has increased, and both applicant and matriculant quality remain strong. We typically matriculate 8 students per year and add on average another student from the incoming medical school class. Many of our students hold individual NRSAs, publish high- impact articles, and have received a variety of honors, both intra- and extramurally. Overall time-to-graduation has averaged 7.8 years over the past decade. On average, MSTPs receive support for 25% of the funding years; in this application, we request that level of support, 18 lines, to appoint trainees for the MS1-2 years, i.e. for 1/4th of the length of the expected period of training in the Program. We are committed to the training of exceptional physician-scientists, which NIH funding will greatly facilitate.
