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The University of Illinois College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) educates exceptional students for careers as physician-scientists. MD/PhD graduates are positioned to bridge the basic and clinical sciences, and to pursue interdisciplinary approaches to important biomedical problems. Graduates of the MSTP from the University of Illinois College of Medicine routinely gain admission to highly competitive residency programs at premier academic institutions across the country. Our students typically pursue careers as physician scientists at academic health science centers. Current students in the MSTP at the University of Illinois College of Medicine have a strong record of receiving individual fellowship support from the NIH and other foundations. Our program has been supported by a training grant from the National Institute of Health – National Institute of General Medical Sciences since 2007.

  • 96 Current students

  • 12 Open spots for 2024-2025 Academic Year

  • 139 Participating Faculty

About our Program Heading link

In response to the need for accomplished academic medical scientists, the University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a combined training program that leads to both the MD and the PhD degrees. The objective of the MSTP is to train students for careers in academic medicine and research. The MSTP integrates the medical curriculum with graduate studies in the basic medical sciences, public health, bio-engineering and in the College of Pharmacy. Students pursue original research projects in the laboratories of the University’s graduate faculty along with medical studies in the College of Medicine. Students begin the Program without affiliation to a basic science department in order to be exposed to the widest possible opportunities for graduate study and are offered choices in developing their programs of study.

During this time, they explore research opportunities in any academic department of the College of Medicine (COM) which organized under an umbrella program known as Graduate Education in Bio-Medical Sciences (GEMS) and includes research concentrations in the following areas: Cancer Biology, Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Integrative and Translation Physiology, Microbiology, Immunity and Inflammation, Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Neurobiology, Graduate Program In Neuroscience or in a non-COM department such as Biological Sciences, Department of Biomedical EngineeringSchool of Public Health, and Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy.