The Doctorate of Medicine and of Philosophy (MD–PhD) is a dual doctoral degree for
physician–scientist A physician-scientist is traditionally a holder of a medical degree and a Doctor of Philosophy, doctor of philosophy also known as an MD–PhD, MD-PhD. Compared to other Physician, clinicians, physician-scientists invest significant time and profes ...
s, combining the professional training of the
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...
degree with the research expertise of the
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
degree; the Ph.D. is the most advanced credential in the United States. Other dual degree programs exist, such as the joint MD–JD degree; both the JD professional degree and the MD are not universally recognized internationally, however. The
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
currently provides 50 medical schools with Medical Scientist Training Program grants that support the training of students in MD–PhD programs at these institutions through tuition and stipend allowances. These programs are often competitive, with some admitting as few as two students per academic year. The MCAT score and GPA of MD–PhD matriculants are often higher than MD only matriculants.
Application and admissions
MD–PhD typically require or prefer candidates who have had a background in research, either under a professor as an undergraduate or have taken at least one gap year to work in a laboratory setting. The application process in addition to a personal statement required for MD-only applications also require two additional essays to describe why an applicant wants to pursue an MD–PhD and an essay describing their research background.
Training programs
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, MD–PhD degrees can be obtained through dual-degree programs offered at some medical schools. The idea for an integrated training program began at
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (CWRU SOM, CaseMed) is the medical school of Case Western Reserve University, a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest biomedical research center in Ohio.
History
On November 1 ...
in 1956 and quickly spread to other research medical schools. In 1964, through the Chief of the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation Herbert H. Rosenberg, Ph.D., the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
(NIH) developed a grant to underwrite some universities' MD–PhD programs. This funding was distributed through the
Medical Scientist Training Program
The Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) are dual-degree training programs that streamline the education towards both clinical (typically MD) and research doctoral degrees. MSTPs are offered by some United States medical schools, who are aw ...
(MSTP). There are also non-MSTP funded dual-degree programs, which typically provide funding through endowment funds, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and extramural fellowships). Non-MSTP funded dual degree programs have more flexibility and can extend to degrees other than the PhD (e.g., JD and MBA degrees).
Admission to a dual degree program is not a requirement to receive MD and PhD degrees. An individual has the option to complete each degree separately through single-degree programs. However, the student is responsible for all medical school tuition and does not receive a stipend during their MD education. Furthermore, since the PhD training is not streamlined with the medical training, students will often take additional years to complete their PhD.
A PhD may also be obtained by physicians during the residency training period. This combined research and graduate-level medical education are offered by a minority of residency programs. This additional education typically extends the residency period by three to four years.
Training structure
Pre-doctoral
Upon matriculating in an MD–PhD program, students will often follow a 2-PhD-2 plan. In this system, students will complete the pre-clinical curriculum of their medical school (2 years), transition into PhD graduate training (3–5 years), and then finally complete clinical rotations (2 years).
Post-doctoral
Upon receiving the MD–PhD dual degree, physician-scientists may choose a variety of career paths. The most common continues to be residency training with additional laboratory training. However, a physician–scientist may also elect to refuse residency training, thereby having a career essentially akin to a conventional PhD scientist. A physician–scientist may also elect to work in the private sector with no further formal academic clinical nor research training.
Benefits of the dual degree program
Financial compensation
Some MD–PhD programs (all MSTPs) cover all medical school tuition, provide a stipend, and cover health insurance expenses.
Residency programs
Candidates with MD–PhD dual degrees are favorably looked upon in most residency programs.
Career flexibility
Graduates with an MD–PhD degree are generally qualified for a variety of careers in medicine and medical research. MD students, just as MD–PhD students, are also qualified for a career in medical research given enough post-graduate research experience. The issue is that careers in medicine as an MD, most commonly being a physician, pay significantly more than careers in medical research. Those who graduate MD most often accrue significant financial debt and are incentivize to seek employment as a high-paying physician to pay off debt from undergraduate and MD schooling. MD–PhD graduates nearly always graduate debt free. Thus, MD–PhD students do not have the same economic pressures to seek employment as a physician compared to their MD counterparts, and instead have the economic flexibility to seek out a career in research or any career path that can utilize the unique skills an MD–PhD had acquired over their years of education.
Career paths
The vast majority (over 80%) of MD–PhD graduates eventually choose to enter
academia
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
, government, or industry where medical research is a central component of their duties.
According to a
FASEB
The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is a non-profit organization that is the principal umbrella organization of U.S. societies in the field of biological and medical research. This organization organizes academi ...
study conducted in 2000, graduates of NIH-funded MSTPs make up just 2.5% of medical school graduates each year, but after graduation, account for about one third of all NIH research grants awarded to physicians. Many MD–PhD graduates also practice clinical medicine in their field of expertise.
Notable MD–PhD physician–scientists
*
Barry Blumberg
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepat ...
– Recipient of the 1976
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
along with Daniel Gajdusek for their work on the human
prion
Prions are misfolded proteins that have the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. They characterize several fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. It ...
disease
kuru
Kuru may refer to:
Anthropology and history
* Kuru (disease), a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy associated with the cannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore people
* Kuru (mythology), part of Meithei mythology
* Kuru Kingdom, ...
*
Francis Collins
Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-geneticist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He is the former director of the National Institutes of Health ( ...
– Director of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
and former leader of the
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
*
James DiCarlo –
computational neuroscientist
Computational neuroscience (also known as theoretical neuroscience or mathematical neuroscience) is a branch of neuroscience which employs mathematical models, computer simulations, theoretical analysis and abstractions of the brain to u ...
and Head of the
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
*
Alfred G. Gilman
Alfred Goodman Gilman (July 1, 1941 – December 23, 2015) was an American pharmacologist and biochemist. He and Martin Rodbell shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these prot ...
– Recipient of the 1994
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
along with Martin Rodbell for their discoveries regarding G-proteins
*
Robert Satcher
Robert Lee "Bobby" Satcher Jr. (born September 22, 1965) is an American physician, chemical engineer, and former NASA astronaut. He participated in 2 spacewalks during STS-129, accumulating 12hrs 19min of EVA time. Satcher holds two doctorates ( ...
–
Physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
,
chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...
, and
NASA astronaut
The NASA Astronaut Corps is a unit of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. and international space missions. It is based at Johnson Space Ce ...
who became the first orthopedic surgeon in space during
STS-129
STS-129 ( ISS assembly flight ULF3) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). ''Atlantis'' was launched on November 16, 2009 at 14:28 EST, and landed at 09:44 EST on November 27, 2009 on runway 33 at the Kennedy ...
*
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...
–
Neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...
known for his work in the fields of
behavioral neurology
Behavioral neurology is a subspecialty of neurology that studies the impact of neurological damage and disease upon behavior, memory, and cognition, and the treatment thereof. Two fields associated with behavioral neurology are neuropsychiatry and ...
and visual
psychophysics
Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, m ...
*
David Satcher
David Satcher, (born March 2, 1941) is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and th ...
– 16th
Surgeon General of the United States
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...
* Chi V. Dang – Director of the
Abramson Cancer Center
The Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine is a specialized medical facility located at 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, on the former site of the Philadelphia Civic Center, on the campus of the Hospital of the University ...
of the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
*
Christopher Duntsch
Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971) is a former American neurosurgery, neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death for gross medical malpractice, malpractice resulting in the mutilation, maiming of several patients' spin ...
– Neurosurgeon sentenced to life in prison for intentionally botching 32 surgeries that killed two patients and paralyzed two others
"Dr. Duntsch defense expert: 'The only way this happens is the entire system fails the patients',"
WFAA, February 13, 2017, retrieved February 21, 2017.
* Gregg L. Semenza
Gregg Leonard Semenza (born July 12, 1956) is a Pediatrician and Professor of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He serves as the director of the vascular program at the Institute for Cell Engineering. He is a 2016 recipi ...
* Joseph Ladapo, surgeon-general of Florida
See also
* Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...
* Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
* Biomedical scientist A biomedical scientist is a scientist trained in biology, particularly in the context of medical laboratory sciences or laboratory medicine. These scientists work to gain knowledge on the main principles of how the human body works and to find new w ...
* DPT-MPH
* Association of American Medical Colleges
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was established in 1876. It represents medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic and scientific societies, while providing serv ...
* American Physician Scientists Association
The American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) is dedicated to career development and community building among physician-scientists in training.
Organization and purpose
The American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) is a national or ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:MD-PhD
Medicine and philosophy
Doctoral degrees
Dual academic degrees
Medical degrees