Medical Scientist Training Program

University Of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. The MD-PhD Program at the University of Maryland (UM) School of Medicine was established in 1982 and funded by the NIH in 2010. We were one of the first programs awarded under the new PAR-19-036 in 2020. The mission of our Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) is to train a creative cadre of physician-scientists who will become leaders in their chosen fields of research, seek new knowledge, and apply that knowledge to enhance health. Our training objectives are to: provide rigorous training, which integrates MD and PhD curricula, to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice and solve clinical problems with research; provide training and experiences fostering the bidirectional communication of scientific ideas and their application to clinical medicine to broad audiences; provide an evidenced-informed approach to career development that supports long-term engagement as a physician-scientist; promote physician-scientist identity formation developing life skills that foster persistence in a physician-scientist career and infuse our training program with practices which promote safe and responsible research. Our program objectives are to; continue to recruit 8 new MSTP students each year who are part of a full MSTP cohort of 60-70 trainees aiming for an average time-to-dual-degree of 8 years and comprehensively and continuously evaluate our MSTP focusing on its training and programmatic objectives. Our curriculum consists of very strong pre-clerkship and clerkship medical training, abbreviated graduate coursework, rigorous PhD thesis research, MSTP-specific courses designed to integrate medical and scientific knowledge, and flexible reentry from graduate school to medical school. MSTP-specific activities include (but not limited to): Molecules to Medicine in MS1&2, Physician-Scientist Seminars and Physician-Scientist Shadowing in all years. We have MSTP activities designed to facilitate the Transitions into GS and MS3. Training in the responsible conduct of research and rigor and reproducibility is integrated throughout their education. Our opportunities for dissertation research are extensive and are interdisciplinary by design. Thus, our program ensures the MD-PhD students are not merely MD students with PhD training. Over the past 3.5 years, we have met our training objectives during a pandemic and a transition to a new MD curriculum. Our MSTP’s training environment is supportive, and our training activities are effective. Our average time to degree is at or below 8 years. Our retention rates are high at >95%. We have adapted our MD-PhD curriculum to maximize the benefits of a new MD curriculum to our students. Both our short-term and long-term outcomes indicate we are retaining MD-PhD students in research during residency and beyond. We plan to build on this success continuing to develop innovative training and mentoring strategies.