The Presbyterian Health Foundation announced a $5 million grant to train physician – scientists in Oklahoma. The M.D./Ph.D. program is a joint effort between the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. In recognition of the gift, the program will be designated the “Presbyterian Health Foundation M.D./Ph.D. Program.” The grant is evenly divided between both institutions.In a letter congratulating the grant recipients, Presbyterian Health Foundation President Jean Gumerson wrote “the Foundation is pleased with the relationship between OUHSC and OMRF and is equally pleased by supporting a project important to both institutions.”
Physician-scientists are a key group of individuals who bridge the worlds of clinical medicine and basic research. Their perspective is essential for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, who must decide which new discoveries in basic and biomedical sciences can best be used to design effective new drugs. The Presbyterian Health Foundation M.D./Ph.D. program will help increase the number of physician-scientists, whose ranks have been declining for the past fifteen years.
Dr. Joseph J. Ferretti, senior vice president and provost of the OUHSC stated that “the decline in the numbers of individuals who hold doctoral degrees in both medicine and in one of the biomedical sciences is recognized as a crisis for medical training and biomedical research.”
“This grant from the Presbyterian Health Foundation allows the OU Health Sciences Center, in collaboration with OMRF, to address this crisis. Our goal is to develop a program that will attract applicants from across the nation,” Ferretti continued.
The Presbyterian Health Foundation M.D./Ph.D. program allows completion of both degrees in seven years: two years of medical school curriculum followed by three to four years of graduate study and dissertation research, leading to a Ph.D. degree. The training concludes with clinical studies during the final two years of medical school and the M.D. degree.
“Combining medical school and graduate school training in a single, intense experience is a proven method that provides students with numerous opportunities. This approach exposes students to both clinical medicine and rigorous scientific study early in their careers, helping them become better doctors, researchers, and teachers,” said OMRF President J. Donald Capra, M.D.