Medical Scientist Training Program

University Of Virginia, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) brings together an outstanding faculty with wide ranging research expertise to train the next generation of biomedical scientists and data-driven physicians. Students in the UVA MSTP will train in a highly supportive institutional framework that includes an exceptional health system, robust sponsored research, and innovative medical and graduate educational programs. The MSTP will seek to enroll 7 trainees each year and appoint them to the T32 for the first two years of clinical training (Med 1 and Med 2), thus requiring a total of 14 trainee slots per year. The Program is led by two co-Program Directors/Principal Investigators whose passion and commitment to training, coupled with their outstanding research accomplishments, exemplary training records, and impressive leadership skills, make them uniquely suited to lead the program. They are joined by three Associate Directors and over 100 faculty mentors who are themselves highly distinguished researchers, physician scientists, and educators. The MSTP leadership and faculty are universally committed to creating a broad environment in which the students can reach their full potential by learning from, and interacting with, a broad group of colleagues and faculty. Students in the MSTP will follow a curriculum that integrates MD and PhD educational components throughout the training. Innovative approaches to didactic instruction, problem-based learning, and professional development are integral to every facet of the Program: the pre-clerkship phase will introduce fundamental principles of medicine from the perspective of organ systems and disease mechanisms; students will be afforded exquisite flexibility and adaptability in building highly individualized curricula during their graduate training; instruction on critical literature review and consideration of rigor and reproducibility in experimental design and data analysis will be initiated during the earliest phase of medical training; and clinical skills training will persist while the students are performing their dissertation research. In support of their educational pursuits, MSTP students will be guided by a comprehensive longitudinal advising platform specifically tailored to their stage in the Program. They will also have access to extensive professional and career development activities that draw on the experiences and engagement of MSTP faculty, MSTP alumni, peer colleagues, and physician scientists and biomedical researchers from the broader community. Throughout their tenure in the Program, the trainees will be empowered as key contributors to the dynamic evolution of the MSTP through their engagement, participation as near-peer mentors for their more junior colleagues, and license to develop and implement new initiatives to address their training needs. By pursuing the rigorous training that defines the Program and leveraging the exceptional research and clinical environment at UVA, graduates of the MSTP will be positioned to become outstanding scientists and leaders in the biomedical field with a lifelong passion for research and its integration with medical practice.