Curriculum

The MD/PhD Program trains physician scientists who are well prepared for both research and clinical practice. Through this program you will:

• become a fully accredited physician
• complete a PhD through the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies

Year 1: first year MD Program

Fall term: first year of the current Foundations Curriculum.

Winter term: after meeting with the MD/PhD Program Director, potential graduate supervisors and speaking to upper-year student mentors, you will apply to your PhD Program.

Summer term: Start work on your PhD, or an MD/PhD Summer CREMS project. This may mean getting started in your lab, your research or completing lab rotations prior to supervisor selection (e.g. Molecular Genetics/Medical Biophysics).

Year 2: PhD

Your second year marks the beginning of formal registration in graduate school and commencement of your PhD. This involves:

• taking the courses required by your graduate department or institute
• developing your research plan
• acquiring any necessary new techniques and initiating research

Students remain in the graduate phase for four to five years, depending on the research topic selected and the outcome of your experiments.

Year 5 or 6: return to MD Program

When research is complete, with supervisory and graduate department approval, students then return to complete the remaining three years of the MD Program.

Throughout the eight to nine years of the MD/PhD Program, students are expected to attend the bi-weekly research and career development seminars.