Pathway to Discovery in Molecular Medicine
The Molecular Medicine Pathway (MMP) provides a training opportunity and career-support framework in which students and residents are helped to envision a "career path forward" in academic medicine that combines clinical practice and disease-oriented laboratory research. For students, the primary goal of this 5-year program is to provide a foundation of course work and an intensive laboratory research experience with a carefully chosen mentor and role model. For residents, the primary goal is to "keep the flame of research interest burning" through participation in elective coursework, seminars and journal clubs, as well as laboratory research in specific cases, as they complete their graduate clinical training and apply for fellowships.
Students will be expected to take two quarter-length graduate-level classes during the first year of medical school along with the core medical curriculum, and attend a physician-scientist journal club during the first or second year of medical school. During the summer following core clinical rotations in the third year, students will participate in a 3-week intensive elective featuring hands-on laboratory exercises, an introduction to genomic and proteomic databases, and supervised reading groups. The fourth year will consist of a mentored research experience. During this research year, students also will participate in a research club, and take a third quarter-length graduate-level class as well as a quarter-length elective. Students will return in the fifth year of the program to complete their clinical rotations.
Successful completion of the program will result in graduation with an M.D. with Thesis and Certificate in Molecular Medicine.
