News & Events

MSTP Seminars

Held three times each semester, the MD/PhD Seminar Series alternate between an informal faculty presentation, a student chalk talk, and a visiting faculty lecture. Members of the Student Council are responsible for scheduling speakers and selecting food. These sessions represent outstanding opportunities for students to interact in a scientific, collegial forum. Students are expected to attend at least 2 sessions each semester. A particular emphasis of these seminars is how one balances the many callings of physician-scientists. For example, a popular forum from past years is a round table discussion with faculty and fellows at different career stages discussing their integration of research and clinical training.

In addition, all MD/PhD students participate in an additional class, Scientific Reasoning in Medicine (SRM), that meets for 8 sessions each semester. Each session consists of a presentation on research issues with clear clinical relevance led by faculty chosen from a variety of disciplines and a student-led journal club, which provides a forum for critical evaluation of primary scientific literature related to the research topic.

Introduced by the MD/PhD Student Council in 2012, the Medical Scientist Research Symposium (MSRS) provides a half-day on campus venue in early January where all students present their current research in oral and poster sessions. This provides an outstanding forum for student interaction and highlighting trainee research to the larger university community. The day is topped off by a lecture from a distinguished invited speaker that focuses on how research contributes to medical practice. MSRS 2013 will take place on Wednesday, January 9.