PROGRAM SEQUENCE

Students complete the first two years of medical school, which is followed by their PhD training and then the final two years of clinical clerkships. Students are advised to begin the program in June to enable an early start on their research rotations as MD program courses begin in mid-August. Some students choose to continue their research during the first two years of medical school. It is recommended that students select and apply to a graduate program by February of their second year in the program and identify a research mentor no later than the beginning of the third year. The summers before the second and third year are usually spent in research rotations. The third year is spent both in class to fulfill the final graduate course requirements and in the mentor's laboratory. Students should plan to take their qualifying exam by the end of the third year. The following two or more years are spent carrying out original research for their dissertation. All PhD requirements must be completed before entry into the third year of medical school.

Click here to see a graphic illustrating the timing and interrelation of the components of our program.

Combined degree programs are long and challenging. To relieve pressure produced by the demands of the medical and graduate curricula, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine provides a stimulating and supportive environment in which all combined degree students have frequent opportunities to exchange their ideas, energy, and concerns.

The on-going program activities:

• provide opportunities for integration of clinical problems with basic science advances,
  
• enhance the clinical curriculum with in-depth case reviews.
  
• foster discussion of the students' own research results in an interdisciplinary, rigorous, but informal setting.

Also, special events are scheduled to bring the program's students together for in-depth discussion with international leaders in research. Previous guests included Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at N.I.H.; Nobel laureates Dr. Michael S. Brown and Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.