MEDICAL SCIENTIST TRAINING PROGRAM

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) is offered by the State University of New York at Stony Brook in conjunction with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The purpose of the MSTP is to train academic medical scientists for both research and teaching in medical schools and research institutions. Graduates of this program (30 to date) will be equipped to study major medical problems at the basic level and at the same time, to recognize the clinical significance of their pursuits and discoveries. Of our 28 graduates since 1990, many are already in faculty positions at prestigious institutions throughout the U.S. Ten are Assistant Professors (one each at Brown, the U of South Dakota, Mt. Sinai, UVA, UT Houston, Penn, Yale, and Einstein, as well as two at Columbia). Three are instructors (one at UWash and two at Harvard). Several enjoy competitive research funding from the NIH including one active RO1, one active PO1, one active R29 and five active KO8 awards. At least two other graduates hold competitive NRSA Fellowships. Thirteen of our graduates all of whom graduated in 1995 or later are still in training and only two of the 28 are in private practice. Graduate Programs in which the Ph.D. may be earned include Anatomical Sciences, Biochemistry & Structural Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Genetics, Molecular & Cellular Biology (including Biochemistry and Pathology), Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology, Molecular Microbiology, Neurobiology & Behavior, Oral Biology & Pathology, and Physiology & Biophysics. Each program listed is an independent doctoral degree-granting unit. Several major new initiatives are also now underway at Stony Brook including ones in genomics, proteomics and computational biology/bioinformatics. Finally, our small MSTP has diversity and flexibility that permit the design of individualized educational opportunities to meet the needs of trainees with a variety of interests, backgrounds and career goals.