Program Overview

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Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program

The Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) is one of the world’s oldest interdisciplinary educational programs focused on translational medical science and engineering. Founded in 1970, the program is an inter-institutional collaboration between MIT, Harvard, and local teaching hospitals, dedicated to fostering academic excellence, scientific rigor, and clinical expertise.

Overview of the Program

The HST program offers degrees in two multidisciplinary areas of graduate study:

• Medical Sciences MD Program (MD degree conferred by Harvard Medical School)
• Medical Engineering and Medical Physics Doctoral Program

Medical Sciences (HST MD Program)

The HST MD program is designed for bold, curious students who aspire to careers as physician-scientists. The program is committed to welcoming applicants from a wide range of communities, backgrounds, and experiences.

Key Features of the HST MD Program

• Half of the students in the MD program have majored in biological sciences and half in physical sciences.
• Students are comfortable with mathematics and computational methods, biochemistry, and molecular biology.
• The HST MD curriculum highlights the frontiers of what is known and what remains to be discovered.
• Students gain a deep understanding of the fundamental principles underlying disease and acquire the clinical skills of traditional medical training.
• In addition, they undertake a meaningful research project in one of several hundred laboratories at Harvard, MIT, and local hospitals.

Degree and Career Opportunities

• HST students earn an MD degree from Harvard Medical School.
• Graduates of the program can become pioneering physician-scientists, ready to care for patients and lead translational research to develop preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic innovations.

Program Structure and Duration

• The HST MD program is designed to be completed in four years, with an option to extend the program to five years by including a year of full-time research.
• This additional research year typically occurs after the second year of the MD curriculum.

Medical Engineering and Medical Physics

The Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MEMP) PhD program offers a unique curriculum for engineers and scientists who want to impact patient care by developing innovations to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease.

Key Features of the MEMP PhD Program

• Each MEMP student chooses one of 11 technical concentrations and designs an individualized curriculum to ground themself in the foundations of that discipline.
• Students study medical sciences alongside MD students and become fluent in the language and culture of medicine through structured clinical experiences.
• They select a research project from among laboratories at MIT, Harvard, affiliated hospitals, and research institutes, then tackle important questions through the multiple lenses of their technical discipline and medical training.

Degree and Career Opportunities

• MEMP students earn a PhD awarded by MIT or by the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
• Graduates of the program can lead pioneering efforts that translate technical work into innovations that improve human health and shape the future of medicine.

Program Structure and Duration

• The average time-to-degree for MEMP PhD students is less than six years.
• The program includes a series of subjects to learn the fundamentals of the chosen area, as well as immersive clinical experiences and research projects.

Faculty and Teaching Staff

The HST program has a diverse and accomplished faculty, including professors, associate professors, senior lecturers, and lecturers. The faculty members are experts in their fields and are committed to providing high-quality education and mentorship to HST students.

Courses and Subjects

The HST program offers a wide range of courses and subjects, including:

• HST.010 Human Functional Anatomy
• HST.016 Artificial Intelligence in Health Care I
• HST.020 Musculoskeletal Pathophysiology
• HST.030 Human Pathology
• HST.041 Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis
• HST.060 Endocrinology
• HST.071 Human Reproductive Biology
• HST.081 Hematology
• HST.090 Cardiovascular Pathophysiology
• HST.100 Respiratory Pathophysiology
• HST.110 Renal Pathophysiology
• HST.121 Gastroenterology
• HST.130 Neuroscience
• HST.147 Biochemistry and Metabolism
• HST.151 Principles of Pharmacology
• HST.160 Genetics in Modern Medicine
• HST.162 Molecular Diagnostics and Bioinformatics
• HST.164 Principles of Biomedical Imaging
• HST.175 Cellular and Molecular Immunology
• HST.191 Introduction to Biostatistics
• HST.192 Medical Decision Analysis and Probabilistic Medical Inference
• HST.195 Clinical Epidemiology
• HST.196 Teaching Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.198 Independent Study in Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.200 Introduction to Clinical Medicine
• HST.201 Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Medical Engineering I
• HST.202 Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Medical Engineering II
• HST.207 Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Medical Engineering
• HST.220 Introduction to the Care of Patients
• HST.240 Translational Medicine Preceptorship
• HST.420 Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology
• HST.431 Infections and Inequalities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health
• HST.434 Evolution of an Epidemic (Study Abroad)
• HST.438 Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity
• HST.439 Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity
• HST.450 Biological Physics
• HST.452 Statistical Physics in Biology
• HST.460 Statistics for Neuroscience Research
• HST.482 Biomedical Signal and Image Processing
• HST.500 Frontiers in (Bio)Medical Engineering and Physics
• HST.504 Topics in Computational Molecular Biology
• HST.506 Computational Systems Biology: Deep Learning in the Life Sciences
• HST.507 Advanced Computational Biology: Genomes, Networks, Evolution
• HST.508 Evolutionary and Quantitative Genomics
• HST.515 Aerospace Biomedical and Life Support Engineering
• HST.518 Human Systems Engineering
• HST.522 Biomaterials: Tissue Interactions
• HST.523 Cell-Matrix Mechanics
• HST.524 Design of Medical Devices and Implants
• HST.525 Tumor Microenvironment and Immuno-Oncology: A Systems Biology Approach
• HST.531 Medical Physics of Proton Radiation Therapy
• HST.533 Medical Imaging in Radiation Therapy
• HST.535 Tissue Engineering and Organ Regeneration
• HST.537 Fluids and Diseases
• HST.538 Genomics and Evolution of Infectious Disease
• HST.539 Advances in Interdisciplinary Science in Human Health and Disease
• HST.540 Human Physiology
• HST.541 Cellular Neurophysiology and Computing
• HST.542 Quantitative and Clinical Physiology
• HST.552 Medical Device Design
• HST.560 Radiation Biophysics
• HST.562 Pioneering Technologies for Interrogating Complex Biological Systems
• HST.563 Imaging Biophysics and Clinical Applications
• HST.565 Medical Imaging Sciences and Applications
• HST.576 Topics in Neural Signal Processing
• HST.580 Data Acquisition and Image Reconstruction in MRI
• HST.582 Biomedical Signal and Image Processing
• HST.583 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Data Acquisition and Analysis
• HST.584 Magnetic Resonance Analytic, Biochemical, and Imaging Techniques
• HST.590 Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series
• HST.599 Research in Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.714 Introduction to Sound, Speech, and Hearing
• HST.716 Signal Processing by the Auditory System: Perception
• HST.723 Audition: Neural Mechanisms, Perception and Cognition
• HST.728 Spoken Language Processing
• HST.916 Case Studies and Strategies in Drug Discovery and Development
• HST.918 Economics of Health Care Industries
• HST.920 Principles and Practice of Drug Development
• HST.936 Global Health Informatics to Improve Quality of Care
• HST.937 Global Health Informatics to Improve Quality of Care
• HST.938 Global Health Informatics to Improve Quality of Care
• HST.940 Bioinformatics: Principles, Methods and Applications
• HST.953 Clinical Data Learning, Visualization, and Deployments
• HST.956 Machine Learning for Healthcare
• HST.962 Medical Product Development and Translational Biomedical Research
• HST.971 Strategic Decision Making in Life Science Ventures
• HST.974 Innovating for Mission Impact in Medicine and Healthcare
• HST.978 Healthcare Ventures
• HST.980 Emerging Problems in Infectious Diseases
• HST.999 Practical Experience in Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.THG Graduate Thesis
• HST.UR Undergraduate Research in Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.URG Undergraduate Research in Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S16 Special Graduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S17 Special Graduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S18 Special Graduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S19 Special Graduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S46 Special Undergraduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S47 Special Undergraduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S48 Special Undergraduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S49 Special Undergraduate Subject: Health Sciences and Technology
• HST.S56 Special Graduate Subject: Medical Engineering and Medical Physics
• HST.S57 Special Graduate Subject: Medical Engineering and Medical Physics
• HST.S58 Special Subject: Medical Engineering and Medical Physics
• HST.S59 Special Graduate Subject: Medical Engineering and Medical Physics
• HST.S78 Special Subject: Speech and Hearing Sciences
• HST.S96 Special Graduate Subject: Biomedical Entrepreneurship
• HST.S97 Special Graduate Subject: Biomedical Entrepreneurship
• HST.S98 Special Graduate Subject: Biomedical Entrepreneurship
• HST.S99 Special Graduate Subject: Biomedical Entrepreneurship

Research Areas

The HST program has a wide range of research areas, including:

• Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
• Biomedical Imaging
• Biomedical Signal and Image Processing
• Biostatistics
• Cancer Research
• Cardiovascular Pathophysiology
• Cellular and Molecular Immunology
• Clinical Epidemiology
• Computational Biology
• Computational Systems Biology
• Data Acquisition and Image Reconstruction in MRI
• Endocrinology
• Evolutionary and Quantitative Genomics
• Fluids and Diseases
• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Gastroenterology
• Genetics in Modern Medicine
• Genomics and Evolution of Infectious Disease
• Global Health Informatics
• Hematology
• Human Functional Anatomy
• Human Pathology
• Human Physiology
• Human Reproductive Biology
• Imaging Biophysics and Clinical Applications
• Infections and Inequalities
• Introduction to Biostatistics
• Introduction to Clinical Medicine
• Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Medical Engineering
• Machine Learning for Healthcare
• Medical Decision Analysis and Probabilistic Medical Inference
• Medical Device Design
• Medical Imaging Sciences and Applications
• Medical Physics of Proton Radiation Therapy
• Medical Product Development and Translational Biomedical Research
• Medical Sciences
• Medical Systems Biology
• Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis
• Molecular Diagnostics and Bioinformatics
• Musculoskeletal Pathophysiology
• Neural Signal Processing
• Neuroscience
• Organ Regeneration
• Pharmacology
• Pioneering Technologies for Interrogating Complex Biological Systems
• Principles of Biomedical Imaging
• Principles of Pharmacology
• Quantitative and Clinical Physiology
• Radiation Biophysics
• Regenerative Medicine
• Renal Pathophysiology
• Respiratory Pathophysiology
• Signal Processing by the Auditory System
• Speech and Hearing Sciences
• Spoken Language Processing
• Statistical Physics in Biology
• Statistics for Neuroscience Research
• Strategic Decision Making in Life Science Ventures
• Tissue Engineering
• Tumor Microenvironment and Immuno-Oncology
• Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity

Conclusion

The Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) is a unique and innovative program that offers students a comprehensive education in the fields of medicine, engineering, and science. With its interdisciplinary approach, the program provides students with a deep understanding of the fundamental principles underlying disease and the skills to develop innovative solutions to improve human health. The program's faculty, research areas, and courses make it an ideal choice for students who want to pursue a career in medicine, engineering, or science.