Graduate Student Research

The program emphasizes training in vascular biology, atherosclerosis, cardiac development, cellular electrophysiology, cellular metabolism, cell signaling, gene regulation, and genetic disease.

This training program culminates in a Ph.D. specializing in immunology via the Committee on Immunology. In addition to formal coursework, discussion and research, trainees present their research in bi-weekly seminars and the annual committee on immunology retreat. Participation in journal clubs and research seminars is required to develop skills important in communicating ideas and research to other scientists.

A flexible curriculum allows you to pursue training in one field or to chart an innovative course of study that integrates two disciplines. Students earn the MD and PhD through one year of medical school, followed by 4 years of graduate school, and three final years of medical school (1-4-3). Benefits of this pathway include but are not limited to larger blocks of time to bond with peers on both the graduate and medical school phases and the ability to complete your Step 1 exam closer to when you interview for residencies.

The core mission of the program is to train students to analyze biological processes using the conceptual and experimental tools of biochemistry and structural, molecular, and cellular biology. This mission is necessarily interdisciplinary in nature and represents a distinctive feature of the training program. An MCB trainee must take a Structural Biology course and a Quantitative Biology course, and can choose between one of two courses in Cell Biology and one of two courses in Molecular Biology. All trainees participate in and attend the Research in Progress seminar series.

This training program culminates in a Ph.D. specializing in cancer biology via the Committee on Cancer Biology. Students gain experience in both basic and translational sciences, benefit from problem based learning and hands-on experience in the lab, classroom, and clinic, as well as training in quantitative and computational approaches relevant to their research. The program also prepares students for not only traditional academic research positions, but also alternative research-relevant careers in industry and elsewhere.

This multidisciplinary program takes in physicians, PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers and trains them to become independent, productive investigators in the fields of adult and pediatric digestive diseases and/or nutrition. The program offers a well-balanced and broad curriculum in a diverse area of fields pertaining to digestive diseases and nutrition. The program also offers its students the opportunity to attend national meetings, workshops and symposia.