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Education / Graduate Education / PhD Programs / Translational Biomedical Science

Translational Biomedical Science PhD Program

Juilee Thakar, Ph.D.

Dr. Juilee Thakar, Ph.D.
Program Director

Edwin van Wijngaarden , Ph.D.

Edwin van Wijngaarden, Ph.D.
Associate Program Director

What makes our program different

Our program has been thoughtfully designed to provide you with the most effective learning environment. Whether you want to work on new vaccines, develop smartphone apps for mobile health, or engage international communities, you will learn the skills you need to make an impact.

  • We are global. The program is embedded with a range of global and community health opportunities that help bridge basic and population sciences that serve real communities and their needs, including local and global Deaf communities.
  • A true multidisciplinary program. Our students work with world-renowned scientists from a variety of specialties and highly diverse backgrounds.
  • Tailored to your needs. Together with program co-directors, you design your program of study—both didactic coursework and research—to fit your research interests and career goals.
  • Mentor approach. To provide a broader perspective on how your research can be applied to the world, our program uses a dual mentoring model. Select a primary and co-mentor, one each with expertise in basic or population/clinical/translational science from the School of Medicine or Arts, Sciences and Engineering.
  • Survival skills for research. You will learn what it takes to survive and thrive in an academic environment, such as how to write grants, give presentations, how to write and review manuscripts, and how to find postdocs and jobs after graduation through career development programs offered in the Center for Professional Development and URBEST program.
  • We are diverse. In 2017-2018 academic year, over 56% of the TBS students represent diversity in culture, race and ethnicity, including >8% of our students identifying as culturally Deaf with ASL as their native language. We support and advocate for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing trainees in the TBS PhD program, as well as in other PhD programs in the School of Medicine & Dentistry at the UR to foster an all-inclusive training environment.

Do you want to translate basic science and clinical observations into ideas that change lives? The PhD Program in Translational Biomedical Sciences will give you the education, skills and confidence you need.

To learn more, fill out our Inquiry Form today.

Our Program by the Numbers

52 %

Of trainees are from communities underrepresented in science

4.77 yrs

Average time to graduation

$ 889708

External funding secured by TBS trainees in the past five years

Hear From Students

What Sets Us Apart

About the Program

An overview of the program to give insight into how TBS works at the University of Rochester.

Faculty

Find out more information regarding your potential mentors in the program.

Students

Learn more about your potential peers by looking at their research interests on our students page.

General Focus

The PhD Program in Translational Biomedical Science is focused on creating a new kind of investigator—one who has a much broader view. A flexible curriculum in basic, translational and population health sciences and a dual mentoring approach for dissertation research make it a uniquely powerful way to prepare the research leaders of tomorrow.

View the TBS Program of Study Webpage

IIMP Focus

This program was selected for funding by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and is co-directed by Nancy M. Bennett, M.D., Director of the Center for Community Health and Co-Director of the University of Rochester Clinical & Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI), and Stephen Dewhurst, Ph.D., Chair of Microbiology and Immunology.

View the IIMP Program of Study Webpage 

Graduate Student Perspective

"Coming to URMC to work for a doctorate degree has been a dream come true. My best decision! Since I met past students from my current program, I was sure that URMC had it all.

URMC offers unique and wonderful opportunities to develop both professionally and personally. As a student, you have access to a variety of resources to support you during your training. URMC represents a robust environment of research quality that support researchers and trainees to increase research productivity."

Zahíra Quiñones Tavárez

Third-year PhD Student in the Translational Biomedical Science Program at University of Rochester

Contact Us

Program Coordinator

Kimberly Marino
Research Education Program Assistant