Welcome

The Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of California, San Diego prepares students to be physician-scientists. Clinical instruction in the UCSD School of Medicine is combined with research education in a graduate program. Trainees earn both M.D. and Ph.D.degrees. Here, the variety of teaching hospitals, breadth of research faculty, scope of resources in the San Diego biomedical community, and beauty of the surroundings provide a unique environment to train physician-scientists.

Students gain expertise in three major areas of academic medicine: research, teaching, and clinical care. Training includes learning to apply the scientific method, thinking imaginatively and creatively, reading critically, and preparing to work as an independent physician-scientist. The UCSD MSTP has been supported by the National Institutes of Health from 1974 onward. Since the program's inception, 90% of graduates have obtained positions as physician-scientists at academic health centers or in research institutes.

In addition to our Medical Scientist Training Program, the UCSD School of Medicine is committed to enhancing all types of Physician-Scientist Training, at every level.  A separate office of the Associate Dean for Physician Scientist Training coordinates these School-wide efforts.

We hope that you will find this website, prepared by our current students, useful for learning more about our program.

Paul A. Insel, M.D., Director
mstp@ucsd.edu