Leading Physician Scientists
Recruited from a national pool of well qualified candidates, our students
train for careers as academic physician scientists - and future leaders
in biomedical research. We have high expectations for them because the
curriculum is rigorous, performance standards are high, and the faculty
are exceptionally well qualified.
Throughout the Program we relate research to clinical activities. For
example, our Clinical/Basic Sciences seminar links biomedical research
problems with recent advances in the clinical thinking.
The Program allows our students maximum research time and a great deal
of flexibility in the way they organize their personal program. Our individual
graduate programs have a core of required courses but offer room to explore
particular interests. Some programs, like Biomedical Science, offer students
the chance to plan, with their advisor, an interdisciplinary program of
their own.
Our students' training is funded, in part, by the Medical Scientist Training
Program of the National Institutes of Health.
Supported by the intellectually stimulating environment of the University of Minnesota, our faculty have through the years achieved major advances in medicine. The first open-heart surgery was performed here in the 1940s. Many leaders in academic surgery, particularly transplant surgery, have had M.D. and/or Ph.D. training at the University of Minnesota. The first successful bone marrow transplant was performed by a physician scientist who received his M.D. and Ph.D. training at the University of Minnesota. This tradition continues with research efforts at the forefront of medicine ranging from discovery of human disease genes and investigation of their normal function to the production of animal models of human disease, gene therapy, and medical technology.
Today's graduates are tomorrow's leaders. All of our graduates to date have been successful in achieving their first choice of residencies and post doctoral fellowships. Our students are enthusiastically recruited by the top postgraduate training medical centers in the country.
We're looking for individuals with exceptional talent and high motivation - those who have research experience - individuals committed to careers in which active biomedical research will play a role side-by-side with clinical practice.
Upon completion of their training, our M.D./Ph.D.s generally accept residencies and research fellowships. When they go on to academic positions in medical schools, they may work in research, teaching, patient care, administration or any combination of these areas.
Training toward the award of the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees lasts approximately seven years. It combines coursework, basic biomedical research, the writing of a Ph.D. dissertation, and clinical training.