Mandatory and Encouraged MSTP Events

MSTP students are expected to attend various events and conferences throughout each academic year to maintain invovlement and student standing with the program. A helpful quick list of those events is below:

MSTP-specific events: All MSTP events are coordinated at least in part by MSTP students; we encourage you to become involved so that students continue to have a voice in programming! 

• Annual Retreat (Mandatory) - One day of student talks, posters, and a keynote speaker at an off-site venue, usually the Friday before medical school orientation starts. Event Co-Chairs on Student Council coordinate this. 2027-28 Retreat should take place on Friday, August 6, 2027 (Tentative).
• MSRS (Medical Scientist Research Symposium) (Mandatory) - Half-day session held in April at UR SMD each year with national keynote speaker, student poster session, oral talks, and panel discussions. 2026-27 MSRS will take place on Friday, April 2, 2027.
• MSTP Student Council (StuCo) Meetings (Encouraged, entire MSTP student body may attend, not just those holding offices in the Student Council). These are monthly meetings throughout the academic year where changes such as curriculum are voted upon and it is YOUR student council. 
• Dinner Seminars (Mandatory) - Required sessions that take place at the dinner hour throughout the academic year. Students must attend 2 out of 3 (total of 4 out of 6 need to be attended per academic year) seminars per semester to remain compliant. 
• Scientific Reasoning in Medicine (SRM) (Mandatory) - Required course for M1/M2 MSTP students, which takes place between mid August - March during the academic year.
• Revisit/Second Look Weekend (Encouraged) - Overlapping with the MSRS in April, this takes place on a Thursday-Sunday and is a key recruiting tool for our accepted students. We encourage all students to take part in this event, to give visiting applicants a sense of what the program is really like at Rochester, and to help recruit the next generation of physician-scientists. 2026-27 Revisit will take place from Thu, April 1 - Sun, April 4, 2027.
• MSTP Outreach Conference (Mandatory) – held at UR SMD every 3-5 years for high school and undergrad students to learn what an MD/PhD degree involves. Note: This event has been postponed until further notice.
• Tri-Institutional Conference and APSA Northeast Regional Meeting (Mandatory when UofR hosts, encouraged when Buffalo or Syracuse host) – 3 MD/PhD Programs join together every other year:  University at Buffalo, University of Rochester, and Upstate Medical University (Syracuse) for a day of student talks, a keynote speaker.  Each program rotates as host. University of Rochester will be hosting the Tri-Institutional Conference in Fall 2028. Note: The APSA NE Regional Meeting is a separate conference that is typically hosted in conjunction with the Tri-I when we are hosts of both conferences.