University of Mississippi Medical Center MSTP

About This Grant

Project Summary The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is home to the State’s only academic health science center and has a rich history of high-level biomedical research. As the States only level 1 trauma facility, level IV NICU, Children’s Hospital and Cancer Care Program, Sickle Cell Anemia Program, Transplant Program, and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, our Hospitals and Clinics treat the most critically ill in Mississippi. In addition, the population of patients consists of the most at risk socioeconomic backgrounds. There is a great need to increase the number of physician scientists trained on the front lines where social and economic determinants greatly impact the health care of our residents. Therefore, the goal of this proposal is to establish and grow the University of Mississippi Medical Center MSTP in order to have a long-term impact to increase clinician scientists uniquely trained to tackle the most challenging problems that our health care system faces. Recognizing the exceptional resources, faculty, and environment at UMMC, leadership heavily invested in the MD/PhD program, setting the groundwork for support of the next generation of MD/PhD students. Over the last 5 years, 10 MD/PhD students have graduated from a variety of graduate programs supported by the School of Graduate Studies that include Cellular and Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Immunology, Experimental Therapeutics and Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Physiology, Biomedical Materials Science, and Population Health. Nearly 80 program faculty provide perspectives from all backgrounds and range from junior to established investigators that have trained over 300 PhD students. State of the art equipment, infrastructure, and research cores established largely by NIGMS funded Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence and the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research provide an optimal training environment where students can learn whole animal physiology, -omics approaches to understanding disease mechanisms, cell and molecular biology techniques, population health and more. Finally, recruitment strategies and geographical location make UMMC the ideal home to meet NIH goals to train physician scientists that represent a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.