The goal of the MSTP at the University of Washington (UW) is to inspire, mentor, and train the next generation of outstanding medical research scientists. The UW MSTP began 38 years ago and now enrolls 12 new students annually. Our graduates have made important contributions to biomedical research and the practice of medicine and populate the highest rungs of academic ranks both locally and nationally. The co-directors (Loeb and King) and administrator (Holstad) have 50 years combined experience with the UW MSTP. Two new associate directors (Horwitz and Clowes) joined the UW MSTP last year. PhD disciplines most popular with UW MSTP students are genome sciences, neurobiology, bioengineering, and molecular and cell biology. Student training is guided by a core faculty of 74 tenured professors (21 MD/PhD, 37 PhD, 11 MD), all with NIH-supported research. These core faculty are selected from >1000 professors;new faculty are integrated frequently. Students work in laboratories at the UW, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. Special programs dedicated to MSTP trainees, and extremely well-attended, include monthly dinner seminars, student-led biweekly journal club, continuity clerkships during research years, a post-PhD short course for re-orientation to clinical clerkships, evening programs devoted to each of the critical choices of MSTP life (of dissertation mentor, clerkships, residency, and postdoc), annual summer retreats, and ski trips and hiking expeditions. More than eighty-six percent of our graduates are pursuing careers in medical research. NIH how supports 29 of the 88 UW MSTP trainees. Contributions from the UW School of Medicine, from private donors in Seattle, and from research and training support to faculty mentors more than double this support, enabling full funding of all students throughout MD and PhD years. With this renewal, we request NIH support for 6 additional positions, to a total of 35 NIH-supported students, permitting 14 trainees to be enrolled each year. The UW and the FHCRC are currently in a period of extraordinary growth, particularly in genome sciences and bioengineering, fields of choice for increasing numbers of MSTP students. This infrastructure provides local resources to complement additional NIH support so as to create and maintain an MSTP cohort of approximately 100 trainees in all phases of the program.
The University of Washington Medical Scientist Training Program integrates education in biomedical research with the clinical practice of medicine, leading to combined M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Its students represent an elite cadre drawn from a highly qualified pool of applicants demonstrating academic promise and a commitment to scientific inquiry and patient care. Now in its 38th year, with 33 years of NIH funding, the UW MSTP, backed by enormous institutional scientific and clinical resources, has trained a generation of translational physician-scientists who have made signal discoveries profoundly contributing to the advancement of medicine.
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