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UTHSCSA
DEAN’S MESSAGE

The Bench and the Bedside:

MD/PhD program at UTHSCSA

By Francisco González-Scarano, MD

The UTHSCSA School of Medicine – in conjunction with sity/diabetes, neurological/psychiatric disorders and neurode-
the graduate school – has been enrolling students in a dual generative diseases, and others.
MD/PhD program since 1976. In 2003, then-president of the MD/PhD students begin their experience with an intensive
UT Health Science Center Francisco Cigarroa, MD, recogniz- laboratory rotation followed by their first pre-clinical curricu-
ing that the program needed more resources and that a suc- lum. Our recently updated curriculum assures the students
cessful SOM benefits from a robust MD/PhD program, can undertake a clinical clerkship at the end of year two, before
created a task force to quantify the resources necessary to bring they return to the laboratory for their PhD courses and inde-
our MD/PhD program more in line with the national stan- pendent research leading to their PhD dissertation defense.
dards. The goal was to provide an integrated, cohesive educa- During their PhD years, students do brief clinical rotations in
tional experience in which both the MD and PhD degrees were areas of their interest to prepare them to mix their research and
earned in a single continuous and integrated environment. clinical interests. Lastly, the students complete the final two
The task force presented its design for a program that was years of clinical training for their MD degree. During the av-
focused on mentoring and advising, with the theme of building erage of seven years of studies, there are monthly activities that
a “community” within the Medical School and the Graduate enrich the development of research and clinical competencies
School of Biomedical Sciences to support the complex and di- for successful careers translating scientific discoveries into clin-
verse needs of dual-track medical students. The concept was ical practice. In line with our active curricular change, in the
approved, and in 2005 the first class of five MD/PhD students coming years there will be greater integration between the PhD
was enrolled into the enhanced program. and MD portions of the dual-degree curriculum.
Another substantial asset to our students is the NIH-spon-
PHYSICIAN-SCIENTISTS sored Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) pro-
Prior to 2005, the school had graduated only 13 MD/PhD gram, which has developed a PhD program in Translational
students. Since then, more than 40 students have enrolled in Science and a certificate in translational science. These are also
the program. One measure of its success is the percentage of available to MD/PhD students as either a primary PhD pro-
MD/PhD students at a school who receive the prestigious Ruth gram or as a secondary track in a traditional biomedical PhD
L. Kirschstein National Research Service F30 Awards for In- program with additional coursework emphasizing translational
dividual Predoctoral students from the National Institute of sciences.
Health (NIH). In this regard, we are among the top eight The MD/PhD program constitutes a major commitment
schools in the country; this large number of grant recipients from students. Besides the multi-year span for the dual degrees,
reflects the quality of the program, the students, and the re- the students will then be facing a residency and postdoctoral
search they are proposing and performing. fellowship that could easily span another four to seven years.
The MD/PhD program seeks applicants who are committed It also constitutes a major commitment from the school and
to becoming physician-scientists and who wish to conduct rig- university as we financially support these future scientists and
orous, hypothesis-driven laboratory or population-based re- their crucial research interests.
search into some of medicine’s greatest challenges, including The success of the program, and especially the NIH
cancer, cardiovascular disease, aging, infectious diseases, obe- F30/F31 grant recipients, is due in great part to the broad

34 San Antonio Medicine • February 2014