July 12, 2016

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has awarded the OHSU M.D./Ph.D. Training Program a highly-competitive Medical Scientist Training Program grant.

The $1 million award over five years will support the OHSU M.D./Ph.D. Training Program in its mission to train outstanding physician-scientists with the breadth and depth of knowledge to become leaders in medicine and transdisciplinary biomedical research.

"This award is recognition of the excellence of the OHSU M.D./Ph.D. program and its place among a select group of medical schools offering MSTP-funded programs," said George Mejicano, M.D, senior associate dean for education, OHSU School of Medicine.

Out of about 118 M.D./Ph.D. programs in the country, 47 are MSTP-funded programs. 

The OHSU M.D./Ph.D. Training Program, administered by the OHSU School of Medicine, is directed by David Jacoby, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine, OHSU School of Medicine. He is joined in the leadership of the program by Associate Director Daniel Marks, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, OHSU School of Medicine, and Johanna Colgrove, program coordinator.

"Receiving this grant speaks volumes about the quality of our students," said Dr. Jacoby. "Not only are they outstanding physician-scientists, but they have also built a culture of high expectations, support for each other, and collaboration that has made our program one that OHSU can be very proud of. The cohesiveness of our group has been a major factor in our continued success in attracting the most qualified students."

The OHSU M.D./Ph.D. Training Program was established in 1982. Dr. Jacoby became director in 2008 and is the fourth program director. Under his leadership the program has grown to include 34 students with participation of 11 graduate programs. Interest in the program has grown from 120 applicants five years ago to 195 applicants this year. 

Notable features of the program include clearly structured mentorship and student tracking, the Longitudinal Clinical Clerkship for students during graduate school years and the Clinical Translational Research Rotation in the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute at OHSU. 

In addition to their thesis projects, OHSU M.D./Ph.D. students often undertake clinical projects as well as collaborative research outside their thesis work. Students publish in high-impact journals, including Cell Metabolism, Cell, Stem Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, among others.