Your MD/PhD training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) begins the summer before your first year of medical school. During this time you will choose a laboratory rotation, as well as take our Problem Solving in Biomedical Science course. Your first summer rotation concludes with a rotation research presentation or mini-symposium for all preclinical MD/PhD students.
At the MD/PhD Retreat, which takes place in the early fall, all students are invited to relax, meet faculty, and attend talks given by more senior students and invited guest speakers.
First Year Curriculum
The integrated MD/PhD curriculum begins during the fall of your first year with a course called Biomedical Science for MD/PhDs. This course builds on the first year of medical school curriculum using lectures, tutorials, and graduate-level journal clubs—and continues into the spring semester. During this time, you will also take our Art and Science of Medicine course, which includes central patient care experience, and Longitudinal Clinical Experience.
Throughout your first year, you are encouraged to meet with prospective thesis mentors. These mentors will be a great resource during the one or two additional lab rotations you will complete the summer between the first two years of the program. Choosing a compatible thesis advisor will be an extremely important factor in the success of your training experience.
Recognizing the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, we seek to accommodate your interest in performing clinically relevant thesis research in the laboratory of any member of the training faculty of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences, irrespective of your chosen Multidisciplinary Training Area.
Second Year Curriculum
Your second summer of lab rotations concludes with the rotation research presentation and MD/PhD retreat in early fall. Your second preclinical year will likely be focussed on ISMMS’s second year medical school curriculum. Our MD/PhD students generally rotate in up to three laboratories over the course of the preclinical years, and declare a thesis advisor by the end of their second year.