Preparing students to shape the future of medicine
The Ohio State University College of Medicine has a long history of preparing students to take on the rigors of a wide variety of post-graduate training opportunities in institutions within Ohio and across the nation. We believe that to meet the needs of our students, faculty and community, we must strive to continuously improve our curriculum.
The MSTP has worked closely with the Medical School and Graduate School Leadership to develop a curriculum specifically for MSTP students - the Lead. Serve. Inspire. Inquire. Investigate (or LSI3) curriculum. The LSI3 curriculum incorporates the new Medical School curriculum and the curricula of the partnering graduate programs to provide MSTP students with a unique, rewarding, and challenging curriculum. At the center of the Lead. Serve. Inspire curriculum are clinical experiences that will help students apply foundational science concepts to patient care. The key aspects of the LSI curriculum framework include:
- Three-part curriculum that takes four years to finish
- Fully integrated basic science and clinical science
- Early longitudinal practice based clinical service that allows students to apply classroom knowledge to real patients
- Self-directed learning with multiple assessment methods to provide individualized learning by standardized outcomes
- Faculty coaching to support strong clinical skills
- Project work that requires critical thinking and synthesis
- Clinical problem solving in a team-based environment
Students can choose to enter one of three core PhD programs in the Medical Scientist Training Program – the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, the Neuroscience Graduate Studies Program or the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program. In addition, we offer the option of pursuing a PhD degree in one of many participating PhD programs. If you have an interest in a PhD program other than one of our core PhD programs, please contact the MSTP at mdphd@osumc.edu.
Learn more about opportunities within the MSTP
A brief outline of the curricular timeline is listed below:
Program Years 1 and 2
- Summer lab rotations, Medical School Year 1 coursework, Medical School Year 2 coursework, MSTP Roundtable, MSTP-specific seminar
- For students in BME who select to start with their first year of graduate coursework, their curriculum would include: graduate coursework, MSTP Roundtable, MSTP-specific seminar. The second year in the program would start with Medical School Year 1 coursework as listed above.
Program Years 3-6
- Graduate coursework, grant writing, patient-centered research, ethics, MSTP-specific seminar, clinical preceptorship
Program Years 7 and 8
- Medical School Year 3 and 4 curriculum
Student Projects
Throughout the curriculum, students participate in a variety of longitudinal projects, including health coaching with patients, studies in patient safety, understanding health systems, and solving problems through interdisciplinary teamwork. A systems longitudinal project allows students to incorporate basic science and clinical learning across their medical school experience under the guidance of a faculty mentor.
Assessment and Evaluation
The new curriculum employs an evaluation system that facilitates student self-assessment and individualized education plans. Evaluation is competency-based using multiple domains to measure progress toward mastery. Students see their progress in different competencies along the way by receiving immediate and frequent feedback.
Through the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the College of Medicine, we help high-achieving students realize their full potential as developing physician-scientists, starting with clinical training. MSTP students learn the basics and get practice applying medical knowledge by interacting with real patients. The experience they receive by working in a fast-paced environment and treating a wide variety of medical conditions complements their PhD program and opens the door to many career options.
Early Experience
Early in the first year to year-and-a-half of the curriculum, Ohio State medical and MSTP students begin learning about the various body system disorders, including bone and muscle, neurological, cardiopulmonary, gastro-intestinal and renal, endocrine and reproductive disorders, and begin seeing patients who actually have these disorders early in the first and second years of their programs. This type of longitudinal practice reinforces understanding of the foundational concepts while integrating procedure-based training, history taking and physical examination. Case discussions held in small learning groups also help to integrate core foundational concepts into clinical reasoning, patient care and patient management. Anatomy is integrated across the curriculum so students learn their regional anatomy associated with the foundational and clinical science they are learning, as they apply these concepts to patients.
Clinical Applications
As students progress through the curriculum, they will begin to focus on gaining an understanding of patients with specialized medical needs, patients with reproductive and surgical needs, and patients within special, vulnerable populations, such as victims of abuse, addiction, poverty, low literary, etc. Students will also have the ability to develop advanced competencies in clinical management, including hospital-based care and ambulatory and relationship-centered care. An advanced clinical track allows students to experience the full spectrum of clinical application through interdepartmental rotations in specialty areas. An advanced competency track built into the curriculum gives students a dedicated block of time to pursue longitudinal studies, international rotations or research projects.