Medical Scientist Training Program

描述（由申请人提供）：伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校（UIC）提供医学博士和博士联合培训项目，需要7到8年才能完成。医学博士/博士生的课程包括医学院和研究生院课程的主要部分，旨在最大限度地减少重复，并提供综合的医生-科学家教育。学生可以自由地探索广泛的研究生学习机会，包括医学院的任何研究生课程，或生物工程系，生物科学系，或公共卫生学院或药学院的选定课程。该项目每年招收6名学生，目前总规模为42名学生。第一年需要4名学生，4年级和5年级增加到14名学生。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) provides a program of combined MD and PhD training, requiring seven to eight years for completion. The curriculum for MD/PhD students includes the major portions of the medical school and graduate college curricula in a manner designed to minimize duplication and provide an integrated physician-scientist education. Students freely explore a wide range of opportunities for graduate study, including any of the graduate programs the College of Medicine, or in the departments of Bioengineering, Biological Sciences, or in selected programs in the School of Public Heath or the College of Pharmacy. The program recruits 6 students per year, and currently its overall size is 42 students. Support is requested for 4 students the first year, increasing to 14 students in years 4 and 5. The value of physician-scientists to biomedical research is widely recognized, as is the need for programs to bolster the number of such researchers. Compared to other physicians, MD/PhDs stand out for their scientific insight into bedside problems, and as innovative champions of progress in medicine. MD/PhD graduates have deeper perceptions of medical significance in biology than do scientists without medical education, more comprehensive understanding of the limitations in medical practice, and greater ability to transfer basic scientific advances toward patient care advances. Thus, MD/PhD graduates are positioned to identify and pursue interdisciplinary approaches to important biomedical problems, and to help bridge the basic and clinical sciences. MD/PhD programs are a major source of the nation's physician-scientists, and arguably provide the best route to such careers.