MCW Medical Scientist Training Program Preparation for Physician-Scientist Careers

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has supported MD-PhD training since 1982 with 69 students currently enrolled in our training program. Our leadership team has over 50 years of association in the program with each member leading a component of the program. Our leadership team includes a medical educator with experience in T32 program evaluation.

MCW-MSTP welcomes all applicants and strives to provide an inclusive training environment. Our matriculants are chosen from an applicant pool of undergraduate and recent undergraduates (post-bacs). We evaluate applicants based upon a holistic assessment of experience in conducting hypothesis-driven research, possessing strong communication, and integrity. Many of our matriculants have undergraduate degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, and engineering, in addition to the biological and social sciences.

Our students receive stage-specific professional training and mentoring. Formal activities facilitate programmatic transitions between graduate school and medical school. Common activities for MSTP students include Responsible Conduct in Research and Rigor and Reproducibility workshops, participation in a Mechanism’s of Humans Disease workshop in medical school, and a writing course that can lead to a mentor-approved dissertation and fellowship proposal. Faculty mentors participate in annual CIMER/AAMC-orientated professional development workshops. Our students match into research residency programs.