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There is a growing interest in medical and other health science schools in developing the clinical research skills of faculty members and fellows.  This interest has been fueled by increased support from the NIH to prepare such individuals to meet the demand for clinical investigators in the field.   Locally, the Schools of Medicine and Public Health have combined efforts to create a training program for young faculty members and fellows from a variety of disciplines.

This program is a post-medical or other health science degree training program, aimed primarily at fellows and faculty members interested in developing skills required for clinical research.  It is anticipated that this academic training will supplement extensive training in the content area in which the student is trained, and senior mentoring in the politics and policies of project development and management.  A graduate of this program will have the academic training to develop and lead independent research programs and projects. The program consists of a core set of courses common to all students, plus research elective and focus elective courses that reflect the academic interest of the student.   At this time, the program can accommodate students with specific interest in Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, and Health Behavior.  As a result, there will be some variation in the specific knowledge an skills acquired by each graduate.  However, the primary learning objectives will apply to all students, irrespective of departmental affiliation.  As such, graduates will be able to do the following upon completion of the program:

• design, conduct, and evaluate clinical research studies;
• understand issues of data collection and study management;
• follow appropriate policies and procedures relating to the utilization
  of human subjects in clinical research;
• demonstrate an understanding of the ethics of research on human
  subjects;
• prepare competitive applications for extramural research funding;
• prepare manuscripts for publication in the scientific literature; and
• critically evaluate published research

Admission: Applicants should possess a medical or other health science professional degree.  They may be in their final years of training as residents or fellows or hold positions as junior faculty members.  The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required for applications to all MSPH programs in the School of Public Health.  Scores of 550 or better on each of the three sections of the general test (verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing) are preferred.  The GRE may be waived at the discretion of the committee, for applicants who have been pre-screened by the clinical investigator training grant committee of the School of Medicine. The applicant must produce three letters of reference and a letter stating that he/she will be guaranteed sufficient release time from clinical duties to be able to attend classes regularly and fulfill course requirements in a timely manner.  A medical/health sciences mentor should be identified and a setting where the student can gain experience in conducting clinical research. A faculty member within the School of Public Health will be assigned as an advisor based on the stated interests of the applicant.    

Curriculum: The MSPH in Clinical and Translational Science consists of a minimum of 41 credit hours.  Of these, 14 hours are required, including 9 hours of specific Biostatistics courses and 5 hours of specific Epidemiology courses.  Students then select at least 9 credit hours from a list of approved Masters Research Electives, complete 9 hours of focus specific electives in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, or Health Behavior, and take at least 9 hours of (698 level) Masters research to fulfill the MSPH requirement for conducting a research project. 

**Note that care must be exercised when selecting some of these courses since some have prerequisites that must be taken earlier in the sequence of classes or taken concurrently.