biomedical science phd ucf

Biomedical Sciences (PhD) – MD/PhD Track

Program at a glance.

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The College of Medicine offers an integrated MD/PhD curriculum that enables students to fulfill all requirements and earn the Doctor of Medicine and the Doctor of Philosophy.

This program provides opportunity for MD students to obtain advanced research and training experience and for PhD students to obtain medical training. The program develops physician-scientists with preparation for both academic research and teaching careers. Physician-scientists are in an excellent position to facilitate bench-to-bedside translation of applicable research findings.

Students must fulfill all requirements for both programs to earn both the MD and PhD degrees. As indicated in the curriculum description, some medical modules can be substituted for certain graduate courses and vice versa to help reduce redundancy and streamline time to completion of this integrated program. Students will be able to complete the MD/PhD program in as few as 6 years, although most students will likely require 7-8 years to fulfill all of the requirements. An MD/PhD program committee consisting of faculty from both the medical and graduate programs will serve as the oversight committee responsible for tracking and evaluating student progress in this program.

Students in the integrated MD/PhD Track in Biomedical Sciences must be accepted in the College of Medicine MD program and begin working on their PhD research project during the first two years of medical school. Students take medical courses during the first two years and must successfully pass the USMLE Step 1 exam at the end of year 2 prior to beginning full-time graduate studies in the Biomedical Sciences PhD Program. Required and elective graduate courses for the PhD program are completed in years 3-4 while the student is continuing research. Clinical clerkships that are typically completed in years 3-4 of medical school will in most cases be deferred until the student has completed the PhD program requirements, though some minimum level of ongoing clinical training will continue throughout the entire duration of the program. This ensures that the student remains connected with clinical education and training even while primarily focused on the graduate portion of the MD/PhD program.

The Biomedical Sciences PhD program requires a minimum of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, including a minimum total of 27 hours of formal course work exclusive of independent study that are required. The 72 credit hours in the PhD program consists of 21 credit hours of core courses, 12 credit hours of electives, and a minimum of 15 credit hours of dissertation research. The remaining 24 credit hours may consist of additional electives, and/or doctoral research.

The MD curriculum can be found here: http://med.ucf.edu/academics/md-program/integrated-curriculum/ .

Programmatic deficiencies expected of applicants from diverse settings will be addressed early in the program by completion of appropriate course work. Students may register for doctoral research until they have been admitted to candidacy, after which they must register for dissertation research.

New students will rotate through at least two different laboratories to identify a faculty mentor/sponsor and research area of interest for their dissertation. Finally, a sequence of required seminars will familiarize students with field-related literature and introduce them to the conceptual and technical frameworks in which they will work. All students receiving assistantships must enroll full time.

MD/PhD students are required to maintain good academic standing in both the MD and PhD components of the curriculum. Students must first satisfactorily complete the first two years of the medical school curriculum and pass the USMLE Step 1 exam before they can begin full-time PhD enrollment.

Application Deadlines

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Track Prerequisites

Applicants entering the program with regular status are expected to have completed course work required for a bachelor's degree in chemistry, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, molecular biology or microbiology.

Degree Requirements

Required courses.

• BMS6001 - Cellular Function and Medical Genetics (5)
• BSC6431 - Practice of Biomedical Sciences (3)
• IDS6694 - Experimental Design and Analysis in Biomedical Sciences (2)
• BMS6910 - Focused Inquiry and Research Experience (5)
• Earn at least 2 credits from the following types of courses: IDS 7690 - Frontiers in Biomedical Sciences 1 Credit Hours (two semesters, 1 credit hour each semester)
• Earn at least 4 credits from the following types of courses: IDS 7692L - Experiments in Biomedical Sciences (Lab Rotation: 3 credits/first semester, 1 credit/2nd semester)

Elective Courses

• At least 12 hours of electives must be taken from the following list. Any electives not on this list must be approved by the Graduate Committee before being counted toward degree credit requirements. Directed research, doctoral research and dissertation research may be used to satisfy requirements beyond the first 12 hours, with approval from the program director. Students successfully completing the first year of medical school at UCF may substitute the following medical modules to fulfill the elective course requirement: BMS 6006 - Health and Disease 5 Credit Hours BMS 6050 - Psychosocial Issues in Healthcare 4 Credit Hours BMS 6631 - Hematology and Oncology 4 Credit Hours Others: If approved by the Graduate Committee.
• BSC5418 - Tissue Engineering (3)
• BSC5436 - Biomedical Informatics : Structure Analysis (3)
• BSC6407C - Laboratory Methods in Molecular Biology (3)
• CAP5510 - Bioinformatics (3)
• CHM5305 - Bioconjugate Chemistry (3)
• CHM5450 - Polymer Chemistry (3)
• CHM5451C - Techniques in Polymer Science (3)
• CHS6251 - Applied Organic Synthesis (3)
• CHS6535 - Forensic Molecular Biology (3)
• CHS6535L - Forensic Analysis of Biological Materials (3)
• CHS6536 - Population Genetics and Genetic Data (3)
• GEB5516 - Technological Entrepreneurship (3)
• IDS5127 - Foundation of Bio-Imaging Science (3)
• MCB5205 - Infectious Processes (3)
• MCB5208 - Cellular Microbiology: Host-Pathogen Interactions (3)
• MCB5225 - Molecular Biology of Disease (3)
• MCB5505 - Molecular Virology (3)
• MCB5722C - Methods in Biotechnology (4)
• MCB5932 - Current Topics in Molecular Biology (1 - 99)
• MCB5937 - Special Topics (1 - 99)
• MCB6226 - Molecular Diagnostics (3)
• MCB6417C - Microbial Metabolism (3)
• PCB5025 - Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (3)
• PCB6236 - Cancer Biology (3)
• PCB5238 - Immunobiology (3)
• PCB5265 - Stem Cell Biology (3)
• PCB5275 - Signal Transduction Mechanics (3)
• PCB5527 - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (3)
• PCB5596 - Biomedical Informatics: Sequence Analysis (3)
• PCB6815 - Molecular Aspects of Obesity, Diabetes and Metabolism (3)
• PCB5838 - Cellular and Molecular Basis of Brain Functions (3)
• PCB6528 - Plant Molecular Biology (3)
• PCB6595 - Regulation of Gene Expression (3)
• PCB6677 - Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics (3)
• ZOO5748C - Clinical Neuroanatomy (5)

Unrestricted Electives

• Earn at least 24 credits from the following types of courses: Students should take 24 credit hours of electives, directed research, doctoral research or other courses, in consultation with their adviser.

Dissertation

• Earn at least 15 credits from the following types of courses: IDS 7980 - Dissertation Research 15 Credit Hours

Cumulative/Qualifying Examinations

• Student successfully completes BMS6911.

Candidacy Examination

• Candidacy will consist of writing and orally defending a proposal outlining a novel research idea to the dissertation committee. The written proposal will be prepared independently, following NIH-style grant format, and must be approved by the dissertation committee (see Biomedical Sciences PhD Program description for full description of Candidacy Exam requirements and procedures). After passing the candidacy examination and meeting other requirements as specified, the student can register for dissertation hours.

Admission to Candidacy

• The following are required to be admitted to candidacy and enroll in dissertation hours: Successfully complete a minimum of 57 credit hours. Successful completion of Academic Integrity requirements. Successful completion of all coursework, except for dissertation hours. Successful completion of candidacy. Successful defense of the written dissertation proposal. The dissertation advisory committee is formed, consisting of approved graduate faculty and graduate faculty scholars. Submission of an approved program of study.

Dissertation Defense

• The dissertation should be of significant scope and depth such that the work has made significant advances in the area of biomedical science. The Ph.D. dissertation research must generate sufficient quantity and quality data to support a minimum of two original manuscripts (first-authored by the student) in a mainstream journal in the field. One first-author original research article published or accepted for publication is required for pre-defense. In addition to meeting the pre-defense requirement for publication, a second manuscript must have been submitted and subjected to peer review before the defense. Upon completion and approval of the doctoral dissertation by all designated faculty and university offices, the student will make a formal presentation of the research findings in a seminar format to the dissertation committee and other university faculty and students. The candidate will answer questions and defend conclusions about the subject matter.

Independent Learning

• The dissertation serves as the independent learning experience.

Grand Total Credits: 72

Application requirements, financial information.

Graduate students may receive financial assistance through fellowships, assistantships, tuition support, or loans. For more information, see the College of Graduate Studies Funding website, which describes the types of financial assistance available at UCF and provides general guidance in planning your graduate finances. The Financial Information section of the Graduate Catalog is another key resource.

Fellowship Information

Fellowships are awarded based on academic merit to highly qualified students. They are paid to students through the Office of Student Financial Assistance, based on instructions provided by the College of Graduate Studies. Fellowships are given to support a student's graduate study and do not have a work obligation. For more information, see UCF Graduate Fellowships, which includes descriptions of university fellowships and what you should do to be considered for a fellowship.

• Graduate Faculty
• Graduate Programs

Our Graduate Faculty resides in our Research Divisions. To learn more about them, visit each division’s page:

Cancer Faculty

Cardiovascular faculty, immunity and pathogenesis faculty, neuroscience faculty, molecular microbiology faculty, affiliated graduate faculty.