Medical Scientist Training Program

The Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) are extremely competitive MD-PhD training programs that streamline the education towards MD and PhD graduate degrees. MSTPs are offered by a small number of United States medical schools with financial support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The goal of these training programs is to produce physician scientists who can translate laboratory discoveries into effective treatments for patients. Among a total number of 118 MD-PhD programs in the country, there are currently 45 participating institutions with MSTPs for a total of 890 trainees in all stages of the programs. MSTPs exist at the nation's preeminent medical schools, and, as of 2011, the top 20 medical schools as ranked by the US News and Report had a MSTP. The most recent MSTP grant was awarded to The University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2013.

The program has its origins in the non-NIH funded MD-PhD training offered at the nation's research-centric medical schools. The first true dual-degree program began at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1956. Other prominent medical schools quickly followed this example and developed explicit MD-PhD training structures. In 1964 the NIH created Medical Scientist Training Program to begin funding this medical and research education. The first programs to receive funding were at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and New York University School of Medicine. In the decades that followed, the MSTP saw a significant expansion in NIH funding and institutions with MSTP designation.

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