Medical Scientist Training Program

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PROJECT SUMMARY The University of Colorado MD/PhD Program (CU-MSTP) was established in 1983 and has successfully trained 263 dual-degree students to expand the physician-scientist workforce. CU-MSTP has been continuously funded by NIGMS since 1992, with our program recently growing from ~ 75 students to a current total of 86 students. Our Program Mission is to train a diverse cadre of dual-degree students to become outstanding physician- scientists and future leaders in biomedical research. To accomplish this mission, we select students from an increasing national applicant pool (from 386 in 2017 to 567 in 2021), seeking out those candidates whose record of research, academic, and leadership achievements are exemplary. CU-MSTP recruits 10-11 diverse applicants per year from across the nation, being one of two programs serving the nine Mountain West states. CU-MSTP uses a holistic review process to identify applicants with experiences, attributes, and metrics that project likely success in our program and as physician scientists. Our current roster of 86 students (48% female; 16% URM, 8% disabled, 15% 1st generation college, and 25% disadvantaged) come from across the nation, from a variety of educational backgrounds, and with significant prior research experience and publications. Several recent institutional changes enhance the training environment for CU-MSTP students. Our MSTP students benefit from an innovative new medical school “Trek” curriculum implemented in 2021 that incorporates novel early longitudinal integrated clinical training. The resulting new MSTP “Switchback” curriculum connects rigorous research training with cutting-edge medical training in a highly integrated, flexible, and individualized manner, maintaining the strengths of the prior CU-MSTP training plan and keeping the ~8-year timeline for completion of both degrees. For thesis research, our students choose from a wide variety of fields with MSTP faculty in 15 graduate training programs across three campuses (Anschutz Medical Campus, National Jewish Health, and the University of Colorado-Boulder). Participating CU-MSTP faculty have a combined annual grant income of ~$60M. To enhance the success of our students, we provide career guidance throughout the training period, and we work diligently to place our graduates in elite residencies and fellowships. Our students have excelled in metrics that predict career success as physician scientists, including publishing impactful peer-reviewed manuscripts, obtaining early research funding, and matching in competitive, research-focused residencies. CU School of Medicine provides strong support to CU-MSTP, with a total of $16.97M total support in the 2017-2021 five-year cycle. The growing Anschutz Medical Campus provides state-of-the-art education, research and clinical facilities, and enjoys significant momentum with recent major campus initiatives including the new Center for Health AI, RNA Biosciences Initiative, and Department of Biomedical Informatics. In sum, the continuous improvement of the Program, enlarging applicant pool, quality of recruited students and training faculty, student outcomes, institutional support, research funding and environment justifies our request for 21 training slots/year.