Year-Out Program

Year Out Cohorts

This new program is not open to the general public at this time. Enrollment will be limited to selected students. It is unknown when the MS in Clinic al Research will open to the general public.

Applicants must be currently enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Michigan in one of the following schools: Medical, Nursing, Pharmacy and Dentistry. To determine the best time to take a 'year out' from your program, you should meet with your academic advisor. Some program timelines include: Medical between 3rd and 4th years; Nursing anytime; Pharmacy between 3rd and 4th years; Dentistry prior to starting the first year, or between 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th years.

Students will receive a stipend of $20,772, full tuition support and health care coverage.

Note: The sponsor, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), requires that all participants be either a US Citizen or Non-US Citizen, Permament Resident.

Basic Information:

The Intensive Clinical Research Curriculum consists of three components: a Core Didactic and Practical Curriculum, which all Trainees will take, and personalized, specialized course electives, each of which focuses on a different type of clinical research. Each component requires a significant commitment and includes clearly defined requirements. At the same time, trainees may use the components as building blocks to craft a curriculum plan appropriate to their background and career goals.

Trainees who complete all three components will be granted a Master of Science in Clinical Research from the School of Public Health and Rackham Graduate School.

The first component is a Core Didactic Curriculum. The Core Didactic Curriculum occurs over three semesters and consists of 23.5 academic credit hours. The multidisciplinary curriculum includes training from the School of Public Health in biostatistical methods and techniques, epidemiology, study design, and data quality. The UM Business School provides leadership training to address the specific challenges of leadership in the health care enterprise and management of a research team. Coursework in ethics, regulation, and the responsible conduct of research is provided by Edward Goldman, J.D., head legal counsel to the Health System and IRBs. These courses are well developed and have an established track record in their own right, but this Core Curriculum represents the first time they are brought together to meet the needs of the clinical researcher of today and the future.

The second component is a Core Practical Curriculum (total 4.5 academic credit hours). It is expected that students will craft a practicum experience that draws on their intensive specialized course electives. The Core Practical Curriculum provides increasing independence for trainees over time, but maintains the structure and oversight necessary to ensure that learning goals are met. The Practicum begins with combined classroom and field study. This closely-supervised experience allows trainees to work in small groups, conducting their field projects and complementary classroom work in the context of a structured course. This is followed by 'hands-on' exercises designed to be concurrent with outside mentored research. This experiences include practical instruction on the logistics of study conduct, data collection, and scientific writing. Taught in a hands-on environment with the participation of career professionals at all levels, this unit provides support to trainees as they move toward more independent work. Trainees are expected to participate in a mentored research experience, during the second semester of didactic training, and begin work on the project during the summer.

The Intensive Curriculum includes the 9 academic credit hours of Specialized Course Electives. Each trainee enrolled in the will be required to work with an academic advisor to develop their own set of Specialized Course Electives. These electives will be a series of courses which will fulfill the trainee's own personal research career goals and objectives.

By allowing the trainees to choose the courses that comprise their own Specialized Course Electives, they will receive instruction in areas that they may not directly work in, but that exposure to will be very helpful further in their career. For example, Trainees interested in working in classic "bench-to-bedside" translational research can choose courses that will provide extensive "basic science" coursework that they might not otherwise receive in their doctoral curriculum. Similarly, individuals pursuing research involving "clinical translation" of findings from "bedside to practice" can choose courses that provide intensive instruction in areas of "health services" research that they may not directly use in their work, but that they should be familiar with to maximize their educational experience.

Each individually designed set of Specialized Course Electives will include 9 academic credit hours of didactic instruction, and may possibly include non-credit lecture or web modules. Non-credit lecture and web modules will be made available to each trainee and may be suggested by the trainee's advisor as an additional element to enhance the set of Specialized Course Electives. The curriculum advisors will work with each trainee to ensure that the Specialized Course Electives expose Trainees to unique research initiatives at the University of Michigan, so that they can take advantage of these resources either during the didactic or Practicum phases of their training.

Specialized Course Electives Catalog

Course Requirements

 

 

For questions or comments on this site contact Monica Stiddom (mhealy@umich.edu or 734-998-7348).