Scholarly Concentration Program: Molecular Basis of Medicine

Director/Co-director: Diane Bick Ph.D. (Diane.L.Bick@uth.tmc.edu)

Suggested Didactic Courses | Scholarly Concentration Faculty

Mission:

Personalized medicine will revolutionize medical care of many diseases and its development depends on the understanding and application of the molecular basis of medicine.
Our goal is to train future practicing physicians in scientific data generation and evaluation in a research environment with a particular focus on molecular mechanisms that underlie disease processes.

Maximum number of students/year: 3. If alternative funding sources can be identified this number can be increased to 15-20.

Student selection process:

During their first year students will submit a letter of application and a 250 word essay describing why they wish to enroll in this area of scholarly concentration. Admission will then be dependent upon review by committee comprised of Scholarly Concentration faculty. If approved a guidance committee will be formed for each student. This committee will be responsible for monitoring the student’s progress and designing an individual core curriculum for the student.

Only students in good academic standing will be admitted.

Concentration requirements (didactic and experiential):

Timeline (year by year) for student completion of concentration requirements:

Year 1

Required

• Identify a mentor
• Attend a series of sessions on technologies of molecular medicine that are making personalized medicine possible. Each session will include a laboratory tour, demonstrations and discussion. These sessions will be directed by Scholarly Concentration faculty and will be 1-1.5 hours in duration. We will apply to make these sessions Blue Book approved.

Topics for these sessions will include cover several medical areas including:

• Forensics Investigation
• Public Health Laboratory Medicine
• Molecular Diagnosis
• Theory of Personalized care
• Pharmogenomics
• Infectious Disease
• Trauma Medicine
• Metabolic Diseases

Techniques included in these areas of study

• Multispectral Imaging and Quantitative Microscopy of Biochemical Activities
• Tissue and Expression Arrays
• Proteomics
• Electron tomography
• Coagulation Studies

Apply for a stipend for the summer research program (application is required, if no funding is obtained the through this program we will endeavour to identify alternative sources of funding).

• Form an Advisory Committee and obtain approval for a research/education plan.
• Enrollment in the Summer Research Program between year 1 and 2.

Optional

• Attend one of the seminar courses listed below.
• Spend time shadowing the mentor or other professionals.
• Attend grand rounds in Pathology or Medicine related field.

Year 2

• Students attends courses and/or seminars as appropriate (potential courses listed below).
• Continue with individual curriculum of study outlined by the advisory committee.

Optional:

Serve as a teaching assistant in the Medical Histology or Pathology Laboratory.

Year 3

• Present poster at UTHSC research day.
• Continue with individual curriculum of study outlined by the advisory committee.
  

Year 4

• Senior elective in area of interest (pathology, forensics, oncology etc)
• Complete core curriculum
• Submit a final written version of the research project in a modified MS thesis format to the Advisory Committee
• Present final project at an appropriate venue (Grand Rounds, Research Seminar, regional/national conference.
  

Scholarly projects*

a) Indicate the types of faculty-mentored student scholarly projects available to students (e.g., basic research, clinical research, public health analysis, curriculum development, literature review, etc.):

This will be based on the interest of the student and his/her mentor.

b) indicate the procedure used to review and evaluate the students scholarly projects and outcomes (scholarly product):

This will be assessed by the student’s guidance committee with input from the mentor

c) indicate strategies for dissemination of the scholarly product:

The student will be determined by the guidance committee and the mentor and will depend upon the area of research. A presentation at a national scientific conference and a student-authored manuscript will be expected for completion.

*a traditional student-authored manuscript describing his/her project and its outcome is required.