Program Overview

Program Overview

The Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Washington is designed to integrate the clinical and research years, allowing students to complete the program in 8 years. The program includes the medical school curriculum, graduate school courses, and MSTP-specific courses.

MSTP Timeline

• Year 1: Medical School Year 1 (MS1) – begins in July
  • Summer after MS1: Lab rotation(s)
• Year 2: Medical School Year 2 (MS2)
  • January-March of Year 2: USMLE Step 1 / Begin PhD studies or additional rotation
• Years 3 to 6: PhD research – PhD awarded at the end of this period
• Years 7 and 8: Medical school clerkships (MS3 and MS4) – MD awarded at the end of this period

Years 1 & 2

MSTP Specific Courses

• Translational Research Topics: This course consists of literature review and faculty and student presentations of research, meeting weekly at dinner time throughout the school year.
• Years 1 & 2 School of Medicine Foundation Curriculum
  • Phase 1: Foundations

Years 3 – 6

• Graduate work resulting in the Ph.D.

MSTP Specific Courses

• Patient Centered Translational Research: This course takes students to the wards to explore clinical problems amenable to research, asking students to prepare a short research proposal based on a clinical issue experienced by a patient.

Years 7 & 8

Phase 2: Patient Care

• In the 12-month Patient Care Phase, students achieve specific competencies in six core clinical disciplines:
  • Family Medicine
  • Internal Medicine
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Pediatrics
  • Psychiatry
  • Surgery
• Students participate in these clinical experiences in a variety of locations, in both urban and rural settings throughout the WWAMI region.

Phase 3: Explore & Focus

• This 15-month phase of the curriculum is designed to allow students to explore potential specialty careers, through a combination of required and elective clinical clerkships.
• Students participate in required Advanced Patient Care clerkships, required Neurology/Neurosurgery and Emergency Medicine, and clinical elective opportunities.
• Students finish the Explore and Focus phase with a Transition to Residency experience.
• At the UW School of Medicine, students participate in 20 weeks of clinical electives across 19 specialties.

Clinical Curriculum

• Family Medicine: This clerkship stresses ambulatory primary care with emphasis on common problems, biopsychosocial issues, preventive care, and introduction to the role of the primary care physician.
• Medicine: This basic clerkship serves as a prerequisite for most other medicine courses and clerkships, divided into inpatient and outpatient experience.
• Obstetrics and Gynecology: This clerkship experience provides an introduction to the comprehensive medical care and counseling services for adult and adolescent female patients.
• Pediatrics: This clerkship provides a general introduction to inpatient and outpatient pediatrics, exposing students to settings where children receive medical and health care services.
• Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: This clerkship provides both outpatient and inpatient experiences, with primary responsibility under supervision of attending psychiatrists and residents for diagnosis and care of patients.
• Surgery: This clerkship introduces the student to the diagnosis and management of problems amenable to surgical therapy, including instruction in the physiological basis of surgical care and active participation in the care of inpatients and outpatients.
• Emergency Medicine: Students work at the level of sub-interns, with senior resident and attending supervision, encountering a wide range of patients and presenting complaints.
• Neurology: Students in this clerkship gain a general understanding of basic clinical neurology and develop neurology exam skills, through a combination of inpatient and outpatient experience.
• Rehabilitation Medicine/Chronic Care: Students are exposed to four content areas: Rehabilitation Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Palliative & End of Life Care, and Acute and Chronic Pain Management.
• Surgery Selectives: These additional four weeks of surgery are designed to allow students to learn more about general surgery or surgical subspecialties in a variety of inpatient and/or ambulatory care settings.