Physician-Scientist Program: Structure

“Mount Sinai had one of the largest amounts of protected research time of any program that I visited, and the amount has only increased. Importantly, the administration worked to ensure that this protected time truly was protected and not just 'protected.’”—Drew Kiraly, MD, PhD, Associate Professor (class of 2017)

After an intern year working between psychiatry and off-service medicine blocks, our residents typically have three full-time research months in PGY-2. When they start treating outpatients in the second half of PGY-2, there is a longitudinal allocation of 33 percent protected research time in the last three months of PGY-2 and continuing throughout PGY-3. The fourth year allows even more protected time for research (75 percent) and is meant to provide for the execution of projects that could be continued following graduation from residency (e.g., obtaining preliminary data and writing a K award). Our program has a strong record of being flexible in tailoring research experiences and protected time across the four residency years to the custom needs of our physician-scientists, in efforts to incubate and accelerate their paths to independence.

Time Allocated for Research

• PGY-1: Full-time clinical between psychiatry and medicine blocks, establish mentorship teams and plan projects
• PGY-2: Full-time research for three months; 33 percent time research last three months
• PGY-3: 50 percent of the year research
• PGY-4: 75 percent of the year research

View a sample four-year Physician-Scientist Program rotation schedule.