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The Yale Medical Research Scholars Program

Predoctoral Training at the Interface of Biology and Medicine

• Program Eligibility
• Curriculum
• Program Leadership
• Student Selection Process

The Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) at Yale University bridges barriers between traditional predoctoral and medical training by providing Yale Ph.D. students with both medically oriented coursework and a mentored clinical experience. The coursework provides a grounding in biomedicine, and the clinical experience enables students to interact with patients to learn firsthand about disease symptoms, treatment options, and the limitations of current therapies. This combination of medical knowledge and face-to-face interaction with patients and their doctors provides a new perspective to Ph.D. students and enhances the rigorous training in basic science already provided within the Yale Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Program. Upon completion of their training, MRSP graduates will be capable of working much more closely with physicians and physician-scientists and to independently perform clinically relevant basic research. Funding for the MRSP is provided in large part from a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute via their Med Into Grad Initiative.

Program Eligibility

The MRSP is open only to students who have already been accepted into the BBS Program, and an application is required (see above). A total of 4 to 5 incoming students will be enrolled as Medical Research Scholars, and they will remain in the program for two years. They will remain in their BBS Tracks or Departments but will participate in the additional MRSP curriculum.

The Curriculum

The MRSP consists of four classroom courses that focus first on normal human physiology and organ-based cell biology, followed by human pathobiology and then an introduction to drug discovery, validation and clinical trials (see table below). These classes will also be open to all BBS students, at the discretion of the course directors. The centerpiece of the MRSP is a two-year Mentored Clinical Experience that runs concurrently with the classroom courses and will provide students with patient contact. Exposure to patients and to the practice of medicine will enable graduate students to work more confidently at the interface of research and medicine and facilitate future collaborations with clinical researchers. The Mentored Clinical Experience is open only to students formally enrolled as Medical Research Scholars.

Year	Term	Course	Directors
1	Fall	Physiological Systems	M. Saltzman, E. Boulpaep
1	Spring	Systems Cell Biology	C. Hashimoto
1	Summer	Intro to Biostatistics in Clinical Research	J. Dziura, C. Brandt
2	Fall	Molecular Mechanisms of Human Disease	M. Robek
2	Spring	Topics in Human Investigation	J. Craft, K. Anderson
1 and 2	Fall and Spring	Mentored Clinical Experience	R. Russell, M. Caplan

 

MRSP Curriculum Descriptions

Comprehensive descriptions of the above courses are available in Word by clicking here.

Program Leadership

Lynn Cooley, Ph.D. is the MRSP Director and is also the Director of the BBS Program. Michael Caplan, M.D./Ph.D and Raymond Russell, M.D./Ph.D. serve as Co-Directors of the MRSP. The administrative liaison for the MRSP is Bonnie Ellis, Student Services Officer for the BBS Program. The MRSP also has a core leadership team that includes the above individuals and John Alvaro, Emile Boulpaep, Carl Hashimoto, Karen Anderson, David Stern, Amy Arnsten.

Student Selection Process

Four new MRSP students will be selected from among the entire incoming BBS class before they arrive on campus, and they will participate in the Program during their first two years of graduate study.

The application deadline is May 22, 2009, and the form should be emailed to Bonnie Ellis. The MRSP application, along with the student’s Application for Admission to the Yale Graduate School, which was submitted for entry into the BBS Program, will be reviewed by members of the MRSP core leadership team. Selection will be based largely on the applicant’s responses on the MRSP application as well as on the applicant’s potential for successfully handling the demands of the MRSP curriculum on top of their regular BBS Track coursework and lab rotations. If necessary, students may be interviewed.