Medical Scientist Training Program

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) is offered by Stony Brook University (SBU) in conjunction with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The purpose of the MSTP is to train academic medical scientists for both research and teaching in medical schools and research institutions. Graduates of the program (52 to date) will be equipped to study major medical problems at the basic science level and at the same time, to recognize the clinical significance of their pursuits and discoveries. Of our 50 graduates since 1990, many are in faculty positions at prestigious institutions throughout the U.S., including 3 Instructors, 11 Assistant Professors, and 4 Associate Professors. Most of these have been awarded K08, R01, and / or P01 competitive research funding from the NIH or other sources and have demonstrated research productivity since leaving SBU, in many cases with first or senior author publications in top journals such as Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, Immunity, J. Clin. Invest., and Science. 29 of our graduates, all of whom graduated in 1996 or later, are still in training and only 2 are in private practice. Graduate Programs in which the Ph.D. may be earned include Biochemistry and Structural Biology, Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology (including Biochemistry and Pathology), Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Molecular Microbiology, Neurobiology and Behavior, Physiology and Biophysics, and Biomedical Engineering. Each program is an independent doctoral degree-granting unit. Several new initiatives are underway at Stony Brook including ones in proteomics, diabetes, computational neurobiology, expansion of the hospital, and development of a cancer center. Finally, our small MSTP has diversity and flexibility that permits the design of individualized educational opportunities to meet the needs of trainees with a variety of interests, backgrounds and career goals.