The NYU Medical Scientist Training Program

The future of medicine needs specialists who are able to move beyond the boundaries between scientific research and clinical practice. The NYU Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) is designed to prepare outstanding physician-scientists for these challenges. We offer a rigorous dual MD/PhD training track that merges the fundamentals of scientific inquiry with the insights and experience of clinicians. Graduates of this highly selective program are expected to assume leadership positions in academic medicine, the pharmaceutical and emerging biotechnology industries, and in fundamental biomedical research.

The usual course of study includes the first two years of medical school integrated with summer research rotations, followed by approximately four years of thesis studies, culminating with a PhD degree. After concluding with approximately 13 months of clinical clerkships and electives in the hospitals associated with NYU Langone Medical Center, Tisch Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, and the VA Medical Center, the MD degree is awarded and fellows enter top-tier residency programs around the country. The typical MD/PhD graduate devotes approximately three quarters of his or her time to biomedical research and the remainder to clinical or administrative responsibilities, usually in the clinical departments of research-oriented medical centers.

The NYU MSTP is integrated closely with all the basic-science predoctoral training programs of the NYU School of Medicine and selected basic science programs at the main NYU campus on Washington Square. With the state-of-the-art research centers and the top-level tertiary care centers associated with NYU Langone Medical Center, there are few locations worldwide that can match the resources of New York City.

Its cross-disciplinary strengths as a nexus for humanities, arts, and sciences have made the city a magnet for scientists and scholars of the highest calibers in all aspects of research. Within this remarkable community, New York University, founded in 1831, has achieved a distinction as a center for excellence among the leading institutions of learning. NYU has been the academic home to an extraordinary range of scientists. Among the university's faculty are MacArthur Fellows, Guggenheim Fellows, Howard Hughes Medical Investigators, Lasker Award recipients, Nobel Prize winners, members of the Institute of Medicine, and other members of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Some of the most notable students and researchers at NYU include:

• Avram Hershko, 2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
• Eric Kandel, 2000 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
• Arthur Kornberg, 1959 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
• Saul Krugman, inventor of a hepatitis B vaccine
• Clifford Shull, 1994 Nobel Laureate in Physics
• Rosalyn Yalow, 1977 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine