Advising

Academic Advisor

The MSTP leadership aims to provide holistic support and enrichment in formal and informal capacity for the duration of a student’s time in the Program. Also available to students are the Physician-Scientist Career Advisors, peer networks, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office of Well-Being and Resilience.

Physician-Scientist Career Advisors are individuals who have completed training as MDs and MD-PhDs who are engaged in physician-scientist careers and can provide trainees with guidance about the experiences as a physician-scientist. Students are invited to contact these individuals in various states during their training to seek advice or guidance in career development.

MD-PhD Individual Development Plan (IDP)

Description

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a structured tool designed to help MD-PhD students reflect on their progress, clarify short- and long-term goals, and plan for their academic and professional development. It also provides MSTP leadership with insight to support tailored advising throughout each stage of the program. The IDP is an electronic form with phase-specific guidance and questions based on branched logic. Upon completion, students receive a personalized summary report that can be shared with mentors, advisors, or others involved in their development. Completion of the IDP is required annually by March 1.

How to prepare to complete the IDP

Before completing the IDP, students should reflect on their current stage of training, goals for the upcoming year, and broader career aspirations. The IDP is designed to help identify skills to strengthen, mentors to engage, and strategies to support continued growth. While primarily a tool for self-assessment and planning, the IDP report can also serve as a foundation for meaningful conversations with mentors, advisors, or others supporting the student’s development. Students are encouraged to use the IDP in whatever way best supports their individual progress and planning.

Selecting a research mentor

The choice of a dissertation advisor and MTA is a major focus of the first two years of the Program. The second year culminates with the student being accepted into the laboratory of a Graduate Faculty member for pursuit of the dissertation work. Faculty mentors of rotation students are urged to present a realistic picture of the tone of the laboratory, the nature of the ongoing projects, how work is assigned or monitored, and any general history or policies with respect to meetings, publications/authorship, weekly journal clubs and laboratory meetings, and direct contact to be expected with the laboratory leader. A choice of dissertation advisor is usually, but not always, consonant with the MTA choice.

By March 1 in the second year/ fourth semester in the MD/PhD program, each student is encouraged to submit the Dissertation Advisor/MTA Declaration Form. However, the deadline for submission is June 30. At this time, the student must also select at least three members for an Advisory Committee. Committee members should be selected because of their ability to provide scientific and/or technical support for the dissertation project. Advisory Committee members must be members of the Graduate Faculty. Two Advisory Committee members are experts in the area of the student’s research; a third member must be from a related field but need not be expert in the student’s area of research. MD/PhD students are encouraged to add a clinical/translational (C/T) investigator, who need not be a member of the Graduate Faculty, to their Advisory Committee to provide feedback about the C/T impact of their research. The Dissertation Advisor/MTA Declaration form should be submitted to the Graduate School Office with all the required signatures as soon as possible, but no later than June 30.

Please refer to the PhD Chapter for information on changing dissertation advisors, guidelines for when an advisor relocates.