PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Retreat
An annual (mandatory) retreat for students, mentors, steering committee members and senior administrative faculty is held on a Saturday in the fall at the President's house and conference center. All students are required to attend and to give seminars and/or provide abstracts. We encourage all mentors to attend, as well as other program and associated faculty.
Poster Session
An annual (mandatory) poster session is held by the students in the spring in the HSC 3rd floor Galleria or MART. All students in the PhD phase of the program are required to present a poster. We encourage all basic and clinical faculty as well as leadership of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University to come. The event is well attended and gives everyone a pleasant environment in which to catch up with their colleagues who are mentors of MSTP students and the work on-going in their labs. An eminent keynote speaker is also invited.
Clinical Scientist Dinners
This is a mandatory monthly evening seminar/dinner series held throughout the academic year at which intramural and extramural alumni, residency directors, MSTP Co-Directors, and clinical scientists make presentations to the students. Student attendance is mandatory. Students in the PhD Med-into-Grad program and PhD students as individually desired also participate.
Journal Club / Clinical Pathologic Correlation presentation (JC/CPC)
This is a monthly evening seminar/dinner series that is also mandatory, held once a month from September - May. Student attendance is mandatory. Students in the PhD Med-into-Grad program and PhD students as individually desired also participate.
(GS1) Program Engagement
G1 students are engaged in the program administration in three ways: interviewing MSTP candidates (generally about 8 interviews each) and attending 1-2 admission committee meetings a year, organizing the Clinical Scientist dinners, and organizing the JC/CPC meetings. CSHL and BNL students also participate in the candidate interviewing process, with every attempt made to schedule the interviews at a time that is connected to their need to be on campus for courses.
(GS2) Program Engagement
G2 students organize the annual poster session and are called upon (along with GS3 or GS4 students) to meet with MSTP candidates at lunch or dinner, or give them a tour of the medical school / research areas. Students at CSHL and BNL host the candidates when they visit these places on their second visit to SBU.
(GS3) Clinical Exercise
A year-long clinical exposure activity in the third year of graduate school is required. This entails the student regularly attending a clinic or rounding on the hospital floor (e.g. one morning every two weeks) with a specific preceptor, from September to June of that year. The GS3 year was chosen to avoid the GS1 and GS2 years in which there are many other on-going activities. By GS3, students should otherwise have a full-time research effort, and be 1-2 years away from finishing up their thesis work.
Publications
All MSTP students are expected to have at least one first-author publication in a peer-reviewed high quality journal. Publications should acknowledge support from the MSTP, using a statement similar to "XX was supported by a NIHGM MSTP T32 training award," or "XX was supported by NIHGM MSTP Training award T32-GM008444."
Social Events
A number of social events are held during the year to promote program identification and interaction between the students in different phases of the program. These event, which include a welcoming lunch and evening barbeque for the new students, holiday parties, and a graduation dinner, are recommended but not required.
Miscellaneous
There are multiple types of small interactions. These include wrap-up sessions at the end of each year, and planning sessions with subsets of students to assess how the program activities worked and to plan for the coming year. Students may also wish to take courses in big data, epidemiology or biostatistics, or to learn about clinical trials, by taking courses offered through the Preventive Medicine department and the Graduate Program in Public Health.
Return to Medical School
Students can return to medical school any time of the year. Some times will be better suited to the student’s individual goals than others though. As the end of the thesis work approaches, the MSTP works with the students to best resolve timing issues (too complicated and multi-scenarioed to outline here). However, it should be noted that as part of the transition activities, students need to take some mini-courses in CPR and other topics useful to know right away, and to demonstrate that their history and physical skills have been refreshed sufficiently that they will not embarrass themselves upon their entry into the clinical arena. These activities are most easily conducted in February of each year along with the second year medical school class, although special arrangements can be made if there is an unexpected opportunity to return to medical earlier than anticipated.
PROGRAM GUIDELINES
