INDIANAPOLIS An Indiana University School of Medicine program that partners with Purdue University to train the next generation of physician-scientists has been given national recognition with a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health.
IU's M.D./Ph.D. program, in which students receive the both degrees in seven to eight years, has received a five-year, $1.25 million Medical Scientist Training Program award from the NIH, one of only 40 such grants to medical schools nationally.
The IU program is highly competitive, admitting just five recent under- graduates annually from more than 125 applications. Although many are from the Midwest, the program attracts applicants from across the country and from many of the nation's elite universities. The NIH funding will enable the program to expand its enrollment.
Ten graduate school programs participate in the program in addition to the School of Medicine, including the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University.
The collaboration between the two universities was recognized by the NIH review panel as a compelling strength of the M.D./Ph.D program, one of the few in the nation to incorporate a strong engineering program in a significant way, said D. Wade Clapp, M.D., program director and Kipp Professor of Pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology at the IU School of Medicine. The program was also recognized for strengths in the IU School of Medicine clinical and graduate programs.
"Support from the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program is recognition of the quality of our students, the program and the commitment made by IU and Purdue to meet the need for scientists who have received excellent training in both basic science and clinical research," said Dr. Clapp.
"We're delighted with the recognition from the NIH of the quality and potential of our joint program," said George Wodicka, Ph.D., head of Purdue's Weldon Sch
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| Contact: Eric Schoch eschoch@iupui.edu 317-274-7722 Indiana University Source:Eurekalert |