MD/PhD candidates in CMP take their MD training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the PhD training at one of the three collaborating institutions: RWJMS, Rutgers University, or Princeton University. Typically, students start with laboratory rotations during the summer after the first year of medical school. Students identify a faculty mentor and begin research and graduate coursework full time after the second year of medical school.
MD/PhD students of CMP follow a modified list of course requirements that includes:
- Five credits of courses offered by CMP or the broader Molecular Biosciences umbrella. Consult the program director for exceptions.
- One of three three-credit statistics courses (16:115:557 or 16:125:578, or 16:960:501)
- One credit ethics course (16:115:556) and the refresher in third year of PhD period (16:115:556)
- Zero credit Graduate Student Research Seminar (16:695:600) every semester of the PhD period.
- MD/PhD students do NOT need to take the Principles of Drug Action and Targeting course.
Course selection will be guided by the faculty mentor, and the graduate program director if needed. Medical school course credits (up to 24) can be transferred to satisfy the 32-course credit requirement of the CMP program. The remaining medical training resumes after a Ph.D. degree has been awarded.
The written qualifying exam taken by typical PhD students is waived when MD/PhD students pass Step 1 of the USMLE. The oral qualifying exam of the Cell and Molecular Pharmacology graduate program is taken within the first year of graduate studies.
For more details, click here: MD/PhD website
