MD/PhD Program in Tumor Biology

 

The Tumor Biology Training Program also participates in a combined-degree program, which affords students the opportunity to work simultaneously toward both the M.D. and Ph.D. degree.

The M.D./Ph.D. Program is intended to have sufficient flexibility to accommodate candidates with various backgrounds - the prior experiences and future needs of the students guide the selection of graduate and medical electives and the timing of core courses and research rotations. M.D./Ph.D. students are admitted to the combined-degree program via an undifferentiated mechanism, and generally defer the selection of a sponsoring degree-granting program until the end of the first year of training.

The Graduate School requires that a total of 48 credit hours of Graduate School credits be obtained for the Ph.D. degree. By agreement between the Graduate and Medical Schools, up to 30 hours are credited towards the Graduate School requirement for completion of requirements for all four years of the M.D. degree curriculum. After completing the Ph.D. course requirements, each student must pass an oral and written qualifying examination before commencing thesis research. At the completion of thesis research students return to the third year of the medical school curriculum to complete their clinical rotations.

 

Typical Curriculum

Summer Before Enrollment - Cancer Research Techniques (not for credit)

Summer After First Year of Medical School - Cancer Research Techniques (not for credit)

Summer After Second Year of Medical School - Cancer Research Techniques (not for credit)

Year 1 of Ph.D. Training

Semester 1

BCHB 528 - Modern Methods in Molecular Biology (3)
TBIO 508 - Cellular & Molecular Aspects of the Transformed Cell (4)
TBIO 701/703 - Current Topics in Cancer Research (not for credit)
TBIO 711/713 - Student Seminar (not for credit)
TBIO 546 - Resources for Cancer Research (not for credit)
TBIO 591 Signal Transduction Journal Club (either Fall or Spring) (not for credit)

Semester 2

BIST 502 - Applied Biostatistics (3)
CBIO 539 - Biochemical and Cellular Sciences II (3)
TBIO 520 - Cancer Prevention, Control, & Epidemiology (2)
PHAR 534 - Ethical Issues in Scientific Research (2)
TBIO 702/704 - Current Topics in Cancer Research (not for credit)
TBIO 712/714 - Student Seminar (not for credit)
TBIO 588 - Preparing a Scientific Paper (2)

Years 2 - 4 of PhD Training

Thesis Research (not for credit)

 

A single page of all course descriptions is available here.