University of Washington Medical Scientist Training Program

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The University of Washington (UW) Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) was established in 1970 and is the only MD-PhD program in the five "WWAMI" states (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho) comprising a quarter of the landmass of the United States. Our program has thus far produced 285 graduates, 78% of whom have been employed in scientific research throughout their careers. Our goal is to leverage institutional and national resources to build an educational pipeline leading to the development and identification of a diverse group of talented trainees and equip them with the skills, mentorship, role models, and motivation required to advance the frontiers of biomedical science and technology. Among multiple accomplishments, students and graduates of our program created the Apple Macintosh computer and one of the first enzyme replacement therapies for metabolic disease, have provided fundamental insights into the nature of stem cells, the sequence and structure of the human genome, and the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, and have led similarly successful MD-PhD programs elsewhere, thereby exponentially amplifying our program's impact on training the next generation of physician-scientists. Our competitive program has grown to an annual class of 15, comprising approximately one-fifth of all medical students in Seattle. For each offer of admission, we receive over 23 training- grant-eligible applications. Of our 96 current trainees, 21% are from populations under-represented in medicine and 19% are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine enriches both institutions. Our trainees carry out their PhD research with UW faculty mentors at the UW, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Hutch), Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, and Benaroya Research Institute. Current trainees' PhD departments and programs include Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neuroscience, Genome Sciences, Bioengineering, Computer Science, Molecular Engineering, Chemistry, and Epidemiology. They are mentored by a highly trained group of 81 well-funded, diverse, and gender-balanced distinguished faculty drawn from across ranks of junior to senior investigators, who emphasize and practice responsible, reproducible science in safe training environments. Our program integrates medical and graduate education, while reducing redundancy. Mean time to completion is 8.3 years and on a shortening trajectory, with minimal attrition of 2.6%. Over half of trainees receive NIH F30 independent fellowships. Over the last 15 years, graduates published a mean of 6.7 peer-reviewed papers, including 2.8 as first-authors, many of which are exceptionally impactful and have altered the course of research in their fields. Nearly all graduates go on to research-related residencies at leading institutions, predominantly in fields conducive to long-term retention in research. We continually evaluate our outcomes, measure our progress toward its overarching objective of producing resilient physician-scientists pushing the envelope at the interface of science and medicine, and iteratively evolve our program to stay at the forefront of evidence-based innovations in training practices.