The PhD in Molecular Medicine and Translational Science program is designed in the first year to give B.S or B.A. students a broad basic education in courses deemed fundamental to developing a foundation for basic science and research. All of these courses currently are offered in existing graduate programs at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The second year of the program will diverge from other current graduate programs with the entire year being devoted to the intensive study of the pathological and physiological basis of human disease.
To acquire skills necessary for basic biomedical research, students in the first year will enroll in the following courses: Biochemical Techniques, Biochemistry I, Molecular Biology I, Physiology/Pharmacology II, Scientific Communications, and Introduction to Professional Development. In addition to these basic courses, students will enroll in the Translational Science Seminar Series. This course will be designed for students and faculty members of the Molecular Medicine Program to work together to describe a disease at the clinical level and develop a rational basis for the study of this disease at a molecular level. This course will also serve to introduce students to the faculty of the Program. During this first year, several laboratory rotations, each 3 months in duration will be undertaken concurrently with the core courses. The rotations will provide the student a variety of research experiences with program faculty and enable most students to choose a research laboratory in which to begin thesis work. In the Summer of the first year, these students take a full-time course that rotates them through Internal Medicine and Pediatric Ward Services, Subspecialty Clinics and Clinical Specialty Labs in the Hospital. This course is called Clinical Molecular Medicine and is designed to give the PhD students a meaningful clinical hospital experience.
With the first year as a broad basic foundation, the students in this program will then take courses focused on human biology, pathophysiology and statistics. Of special interest is a Fall term course called Foundations of Clinical and Translational Science, which explores the molecular basis of human diseases. This course is designed to build on the student's basic biochemistry and cell biology knowledge obtained in the first year with an intensive examination of human physiology and human disease. In this course, a series of case scenarios will be examined by the students with the assistance of an MD and PhD facilitator. Cases will take the students through the patient presentation, physical examination, and diagnostic evaluation with representative clinical material including x-rays, CT/MRI scans, and pathologic specimens. Physiology, pathophysiology, and the molecular mechanisms of health and disease will be emphasized in group discussions. Once the diagnosis is established in the course of discussing the case, learning issues will be developed by the group centered upon treatment options, their mechanisms of action, the appropriate design of clinical trials to test new therapies, the genomics and public health aspects of the disease, and the research base for future advances in prevention and treatment. The facilitators will assist with student-led discussions of these issues, and relevant, current literature will be examined.
In the Spring, students will enroll in Scientific Development and the Business of Science, a course designed to effectively formulate, develop, and execute scientific presentations (oral and written); to acquire grant writing skills (e.g. familiarity with format, deadlines, committees, and protocols); to develop critical thinking and the ability to review grants and papers, and to understand the mechanisms of the peer review process. Students will also enroll in the Translational Science Seminar Series during the second year.
Subsequent years in the Program will be devoted to research necessary to complete the thesis. Students will also enroll in the Translational Science Seminar Series during these years.
This program is designed to rigorously train students as basic scientific researchers and give them a thorough knowledge of human disease processes. The courses of the program will provide a strong foundation for the subsequent medically-oriented research necessary to fulfill the requirement for a PhD.