Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)

About the Medical Scientist Training program (MSTP or MD/PhD):

It is possible for a student to pursue a PhD degree in biomedical engineering and the MD degree simultaneously. The coursework is a mixture of BME and the life sciences. Some medical school courses may be used to count as life science credit; in addition students will take the required graduate level engineering, math, and statistics courses. At least 45 credits of dissertation research are also required. In BME, students have the opportunity to jump into their engineering curriculum and research right away.

For this joint degree program, you must be admitted to both the BME graduate (PhD) program AND the Medical Scientist Training program (MSTP). Students admitted to BME, but not admitted to one or both of the other programs still may choose to consider enrollment in the BME PhD program exclusively.

Admission to the MSTP requires application to both the Medical School and Graduate Program, but your graduate application will be built from your AMCAS application, courtesy of the MSTP program.

Detailed information on the program be found in the BME Graduate Student Handbook.

The Candidacy Exam is taken after all BME and medical school courses are completed.

The PhD dissertation should be defended before returning to Med III.  

Year​​ in Program

BME Option 1

BME Option 2

1

​Med 1

MSTP Roundtable

​​Grad Year 1

MSTP Roundtable

2

Med  2
Grad Year 1
MSTP Roundtable

Med 1
MSTP Roundtable

3

Grad Year 2

Med 2 (through Apr 1)

4

Dissertation Research
(formulate plan for med re-entry in Dec/Jan)

5

6

7

Med 3

8

Med 4

Questions about applying to the Medical Scientist Training Program may be directed to:

Ashley Bertran at ashley.bertran@osumc.edu.

For a more detailed discussion on the MSTP option in BME, please contact Graduate Studies Chair, Jun Liu at Liu.314@osu.edu