Pavia has an established medical school and a strong research base in biomedical sciences. It is very well placed, therefore for initiating a programme aimed at training a selected number of medical students in research. The approach suggested by the medical scientists who are contributing to the discussion on the MB/PhD programme as part of the Graduate Smposium at Volta is a so-called intercalated scheme in which the PhD component is inserted between the pre-clinical Course and the clinical one.
Medical sciences constitute a special research challenge because health and disease are shaped by a complex interplay of genetic, environmental and socio/economical factors, as a result of which clinical research often displays extraordinary complexity. Advances in medical sciences therefore require a rigorous training not only in Medicine but also in research methodology. For over a century and a half research training has built on PhD programmes but the medical curriculum is long and complex and the addition of a PhD course adds a further and considerable period of study and research, typically 3 years or more. There is a need therefore to deliver the PhD element of an MB/PhD scheme in the most effective way and all contributors to the discussion argue for a Course of study in which the PhD element is inserted between the pre-clinical and clinic years.
The MB/PhD scheme proposed at the Volta symposium involves competitive admission of selected students to the PhD programme at the end of their pre-clinical Course and admission to the clinical Course at the end of year 6, upon successful completion of the PhD Course. Thus the whole MB/PhD Course will take 9 years to complete. It is anticipated that close interactions and exchanges will develop between students enrolled in the prospective MB/PhD scheme in Pavia and students enrolled in the MB/PhD programmes at Northern European Universities, especially Cambridge and UCL.
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