The CMB Training Program has been an important component of graduate education at Duke University, having trained a total of 432 students since its inception in 1975. The program is highly interdisciplinary, with 124 faculty members from all of the Basic Biomedical Sciences departments working in diverse areas of cell and molecular biology. CMB Program students benefit greatly from the outstanding research environment at Duke University. Students rotate through three or more labs during the first year, and are provided with extensive advising, orientation and mentoring experiences. Course work is mostly completed within the first two years, although the students continue to participate in the CMB Student Seminar Series throughout their graduate career. All CMB students affiliate with one or another PhD-granting unit that is smaller than CMB, providing students with both the broad interdisciplinary program experience and a more close-knit group of colleagues within one of the sub-disciplines. CMB Program students take great pride in their program, participating extensively in recruiting new students, orienting first-year students, planning the annual mini-symposium and picnic, and meeting with guest seminar speakers. The success of the program is evident from our track record. Considering 242 trainees who participated in the program within the last 10 years, 90% have completed or are on track to complete the PhD. The retention rate appears to be improving, since only one trainee has left the program from the last four entering classes (total of 70 trainees). The subgroup of 123 trainees that have completed their PhD within the last 10 years published 483 papers from their thesis training, for an average of 3.9 publications per trainee. This alumni subgroup currently includes 31 academic faculty (17 tenure-track), 21 research scientists in industry or institutes, 62 postdoctoral fellows or research associates, and 5 involved in science-related activities such as scientific writing or administration. These data strongly indicate that our training program is successfully preparing graduates for the rigors and demands of productive careers in modern biological sciences.
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