5 Year Combined Clinical/Translational Research & Master's Degree in Clinical Investigation Program (CTRP/MSCI)

The CTRP/MSCI is an integrated program comprised of relevant required core curricula in Years 1 and 2 of medical school (joint with the Certificate CTR Pathway Program and MD PhD students), and includes an additional gap year during which students are enrolled in the Master’s Degree in Clinical Investigation program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. 

All students who are accepted and enrolled in the CTRP program will have the additional opportunity to apply for the 5-year program option. 

This opportunity is available only to enrolled CTR Pathway students. Candidates for this option must be UMass Chan students officially enrolled in the CTR Pathway program, who are in their 2nd year of medical school.

OVERVIEW: Curriculum Components
The CTRP program is comprised of three required courses (MDP 740 A&B and CTS605A) which are held during FOM1/2 plus an eight week summer lab rotation. The curriculum components are as follows:

Foundations of Medicine - Years 1 & 2

• MDP 740A Designing Solutions to Research Problems: This required series of 20 two-hour sessions together with MDPhD students. The sessions focus on research problems with a clinical focus, and include a computational skills bootcamp (R). This course will be held during fall, spring and summer of year one.
• MDP 740B is a series of one-on-one meetings with selected faculty members in a specific area of research totaling 15 hours per term. The selection of the faculty member is flexible based on the student’s interest and faculty availability but they must be a member of the CTR Pathway faculty group. This course will be held during fall and spring of year two.

CTS 605A Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology

• Held during the summer between years one and two, reviews the basic principles of epidemiological studies and the application of strategies and design to solve epidemics and their causes.

Summer Research Lab Rotation

• Eight-week, full-time lab rotation with a CTRP affiliated faculty in a clinical/translational research area under the guidance of a CTRP-affiliated faculty mentor. Stipend support shared by the student’s mentor and the School is provided for students enrolled in the summer research program.

Core Clinical Experiences - Year 3

• The CTRP/MSCI students will enter the Year 3 Care of Adult and Care of Family clerkships for the first four months of the academic year (May - August) and then take an LOA from the T.H. Chan School of Medicine to complete the MSCI core curriculum.

MSCI Program (full-time, gap year on LOA from medical school)

• Complete the core curriculum that includes, but is not limited to, a writing course, ethics, biostatistics and epidemiology plus research work with the mentor. The curriculum is designed around the skills and experience of each student. Each student must pass a qualifying examination to continue in research.
• After completing the thesis and passing the thesis examination the student will return to the T.H. Chan School of Medicine for the completion of the third year clerkships.

Advanced Studies - Year 4 in Medical School

• Students will use a three-month elective period to finalize thesis work for publication.  This period may include further data analysis, submission of project summary/manuscript, presentation at UMass Chan poster session and/or an academic professional meeting.