Message from the Director
The mission of our multi-institutional Medical Scientist Training Program, comprised of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and in conjunction with the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus School of Medicine, is to pursue novel training of students for careers as physician-scientists focused on disease-oriented research. Modern biomedical research is generating extensive information about the molecular basis of disease that will require individuals formally trained in both basic research and clinical medicine to advance this knowledge into discoveries that impact the human outcomes of disease. The MSTP's director, Dianna M. Milewicz, MD, PhD, is based at McGovern Medical School. UTHealth Houston and MD Anderson, both components of The University of Texas System, are located in Houston’s Texas Medical Center, a 356-acre campus just a few miles south of downtown Houston.
A novel educational sequence for our program exists to integrate the medical and graduate schools and achieve the goal of optimally training physician-scientists to pursue disease-oriented research, bridging the knowledge gap between medicine and basic science. From the initiation of the program in 1982, the protocol for training allows students to finish their medical school clinical/hospital specialty rotations (traditionally during the 3rd year of medical school) and complete USMLE Steps 1 and 2 before entering graduate school. Completion of the clinical rotations provides students insight into disease processes not provided by descriptions in lectures and books. Delaying immersion into graduate training until after students gain exposure to disease processes, diagnosis and treatments, allows them to identify their translational research interests and choose relevant dissertation research areas based upon substantive clinical experience. Thus, students can optimize the translational relevance of their research training, laying an early cohesive foundation for effective careers as physician-scientists focused on disease-oriented research.
We have partnered with the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), leveraging a NIH-funded MD Anderson/University of Puerto Rico U54 Partnership for Excellence in Cancer Research award to integrate talented medical students from the UPR who want to pursue research careers into our program. These students complete medical school at UPR and their PhD research at UTHealth Houston or MD Anderson and are incorporated fully into our program. This enthusiastic and successful community of UPR students has also helped in the recruiting of students from Texas and other states. These two distinctive features of our program - our unique educational sequence and the integration of our UPR students - directly promote our mission.
The Medical Scientist Training Program has been continuously funded as an MD/PhD Program since 1982 and has graduated 148 students. There are currently 53 students in our Program (51 students directly admitted to the program and 2 U54/UPR students.). We receive approximately 210 applications per year and matriculate 7-8 students annually. We typically admit 1 to 2 U54/UPR students each year. Attrition from the program over the past 10 years has been less than 3 percent. The average time to completion of both degrees is currently 8 years. Of our previous 15 years of graduates, 54% are still in residency or fellowship. Of those who have completed training, 22 of 30 (73%) remained in academic pursuits and research [academia (n=17); federal institutions (n=3); biotech (n=2)] and 8 are in private practice (27%).
Dianna M. Milewicz, MD, PhD
UTHealth - Houston's Health University
