About Us

The Investigative Medicine Program is a free standing, interdisciplinary, Ph.D. granting program of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. It was created in 1999 at the Yale School of Medicine to address the critical need for formal training in clinical research, which is vital to the advancement of scientific knowledge and the development of improved treatments for human disease.

The administrative structure is led by the Director and Deputy Director and guided by a Doctoral Committee composed of senior faculty with expertise in clinical research. The program has a strong and diverse cadre of faculty members who teach individual lectures or seminars and/or serve on thesis committees and as mentors.

The program is designed to train prototypical clinical investigators, including students who select laboratory-oriented research projects, which must be done in clinically relevant, disease-oriented areas. The strong clinical focus remains a marked distinction from the focus of typical Ph.D. students in the biomedical sciences at Yale or other institutions. Investigative Medicine offers 8 unique graduate-level courses organized around the central themes of patient-oriented and disease-focused research.

The program admitted its first students in July 2000. As of January 2022, there are currently 16 students enrolled in the program and 57 students have been awarded the Ph.D. degree. Graduates of the program are outstanding, as evidenced by their scholarship and success in obtaining excellent faculty positions and extramural grant support upon graduation.