Medical Scientist Training Program - PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The Georgetown University Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) will assemble a community of trainees for clinical, basic science, and translational research training in neuroscience, cancer biology, pharmacology, and bioethics. The MSTP at GU will be the first and only MSTP in the nation’s capital and will have 75 mentors with over $28M in annual research funding. Currently, 39 trainees are in the GU MD/PhD program, 11 of whom have received NIH F30 MD/PhD fellowships. Since it was established in 1989, the GU MD/PhD program has graduated 107 trainees. Recent graduates have become tenure-track faculty at prestigious institutions, including Stanford, UCSF, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The Director (since 2010) and graduate of the Johns Hopkins MSTP, Todd Waldman, MD, PhD, is best known for generating the first complete gene knockout in human cells (1995) and discovering the STAG2 tumor suppressor gene (2011), which is frequently mutated in a wide range of common human cancers. A key innovative strength and differentiating feature of the GU MSTP is its MD/PhD training program in bioethics, led by Daniel Sulmasy, MD, PhD, an internationally known bioethicist and Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. This application seeks funding for four MSTP trainees/year for their first 2 years in the program (a total of 8 slots), to be supplemented by a fifth slot each year, fully funded by the institution. Over 8 years of MSTP training, trainees will be funded by a combination of (1) the MSTP T32 grant; (2) one of eight existing GU T32 grants that fund graduate training in MSTP-related fields; (3) mentor grant funding; (4) individual F30 MD/PhD fellowships; and (5) institutional funds generated by GU endowments, including the new $7.5M Schlegel MD/PhD program endowment and the long-standing $2.4M Armar & Umeko Strauss MD/PhD program endowment. The program objectives are to (1) Increase the number of bioethics- focused applicants and trainees, and integrate bioethics into the program for all trainees; (2) Achieve <5% attrition and an 8-year average time-to-degree; (3) Implement and achieve 100% enrollment in “Clinical Skills for MSTP Trainees” while maintaining an average four peer-reviewed publications per trainee (at least one first- author); and (4) Implement new programmatic activities including the MSTP Retreat, MSTP Seminar Series, and MSTP Directors Journal Club. To accomplish these goals, the GU MSTP will provide trainees with cohesive medical and graduate educational training. Rigor and reproducibility will be emphasized throughout the GU MSTP, as emphasized in the August, 2025 NIH plan “Leading in Gold Standard Science – An NIH Implementation Plan.” On top of this training structure, crosscutting activities will encourage the horizontal peer support needed to build strong, cohesive MSTP trainee cohorts. Participating faculty will complete training in effective mentoring practices. An internal Executive Committee (EC) and External Advisory Committee (EAC) will provide oversight. With strong MSTP financial support from GU, we are committed to training the next generation of medical scientists, building on GU’s long track record of MD/PhD training success.
