1. MD-PhD Program

Developing Evidence-Based Solutions for Equitable Care

Meet Noura Abul-Husn, MD, PhD, Class of 2009.
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MD-PhD Alumni

EDUCATION

The MD-PhD graduates from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are an exceptional and diverse group of physician-scientists who have made powerful contributions to medical research and patient care.

Our MD-PhD Program provides graduates with a rigorous foundation in both basic science and clinical practice, enabling them to tackle complex problems from multiple perspectives. They emerge from the Icahn School equipped to conduct cutting-edge research, translate their findings into their work with patients, and advocate for new, evidence-based healthcare policies.

Our alumni also share a rich history of involvement in community service, advocacy, and mentoring. They remain dedicated to promoting inclusivity, and embody the core values of our MD-PhD Program and the entire Mount Sinai Health System. One in five of our graduates stays within the Mount Sinai Health System.

Alumni Outcomes

Since the start of the MSTP in 1977, over 300 alumni have graduated from our program, with 96% pursuing residency training. Of those, 22% completed their residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Other common institutions for alumni residency training include Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian University Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of California San Francisco, and Yale New Haven Hospital. The most frequent types of residency programs our graduates pursue include Internal Medicine (30%), Pediatrics (13%), Pathology (11%), Neurology (8%), and Psychiatry (5%). After training, on average, 78% of our alumni pursue careers in academia, industry, or federal agencies, and 44% remain in New York.

Our alumni have collectively secured over $240 million in research funding across various fields, including asthma, lung disease, neurosciences, cancer (immunotherapy, microbiome, vaccine research), cardiovascular disease, stem cell research, chronic liver and digestive diseases, autoimmune diseases, mental health, and infectious diseases. They have achieved significant academic positions, including professors, department chairs, and directors of research centers. They have also taken leadership roles in healthcare administration, regulatory agencies, and clinical trial management. Many have become vice presidents, chief medical officers, and senior directors in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and contribute to global medical strategy, clinical development, and research.

With work spanning diverse fields such as oncology, neurology, gastroenterology, and immunology, many report that the personal and professional connections they built during their time in the MSTP remain with them for decades to come.  

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Anderson Burnett

Sarah Ann R. Anderson-Burnett, MD, PhD, Class of 2015

“Training at Sinai was an experience focused on community at all levels: building community with co-trainees and other physician-scientists, as well as building an engineering partnership community to help guide the work we were doing in the preclinical and clinical years to improve health outcomes. It was a wonderful time of development that continues to frame how I approach patient care today.”

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Sarah Ann R. Anderson-Burnett, MD, PhD, Class of 2015

“Training at Sinai was an experience focused on community at all levels: building community with co-trainees and other physician-scientists, as well as building an engineering partnership community to help guide the work we were doing in the preclinical and clinical years to improve health outcomes. It was a wonderful time of development that continues to frame how I approach patient care today.”

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Natalie Pica, MD, PhD, Class of 2014

“My mentors were really invested not only in my professional development but my personal development as well. Dr. Palese was an amazing mentor to me. He always found ways to challenge me, to push me to make me a better scientist. I had lots of opportunities to publish but I also learned I a lot about life, about critical thinking, about writing, communicating, how to take criticism and how to incorporate feedback into your work which I think are all life skills that would serve me well throughout my road. Truly my PhD experience was exceptional.”

Anderson Burnett

Sarah Ann R. Anderson-Burnett, MD, PhD, Class of 2015

“Training at Sinai was an experience focused on community at all levels: building community with co-trainees and other physician-scientists, as well as building an engineering partnership community to help guide the work we were doing in the preclinical and clinical years to improve health outcomes. It was a wonderful time of development that continues to frame how I approach patient care today.”

Natalie Pica

Natalie Pica, MD, PhD, Class of 2014

“My mentors were really invested not only in my professional development but my personal development as well. Dr. Palese was an amazing mentor to me. He always found ways to challenge me, to push me to make me a better scientist. I had lots of opportunities to publish but I also learned I a lot about life, about critical thinking, about writing, communicating, how to take criticism and how to incorporate feedback into your work which I think are all life skills that would serve me well throughout my road. Truly my PhD experience was exceptional.”

Alec C. Kimmelman

Alec C. Kimmelman, MD, PhD, Class of 2006

“Science is built on people—and on the way we choose to lead one another. As a trainee, I once assumed leadership belonged only to deans or department chairs, but I came to understand that it often begins in the lab. The small, steady acts of mentoring, collaborating, and supporting colleagues matter far more than titles. Those same principles have guided me as I’ve led a lab, a cancer center, and now a health system: foster curiosity, uphold integrity, and create an environment where people lift one another up. The habits you cultivate at the bench—generosity, persistence, intellectual courage—may open doors you cannot yet imagine. Leadership is something you practice every day.”

We Are Shaping Tomorrow

Nguyen

Supporting the Success of Women in the MD-PhD Program

Meet Christie Nguyen, MD, PhD, Class of 2022

Jessica Crowley and Matthew Challman

Protective Microglia Subtype Offers Potential New Therapeutic Pathway in Alzheimer’s Disease

Meet Jessica Crowley and Matthew Challman

headshot of Louise Malle

MD-PhD Graduate Discovers Link Between Down Syndrome and Severe COVID-19

Read about Louise Malle’s breakthrough research