Eligibility

To be eligible for admission to the program, applicants must have a M.D. or D.O. degree, completed two or more years of postgraduate clinical training and eligible to practice medicine in the United States.

Applicants must currently have or plan on securing a residency or fellowship position at the Yale School of Medicine and two years of guaranteed stipend support. Most candidates are chosen from among those individuals who have been accepted into a Yale fellowship training program.

Applicants must have completed their required clinical subspecialty training before entering the program so that the subsequent time for research is minimally interrupted.

The program is a full-time commitment; applicants are required to have 90% protected time (see section below, “Policy on Protected Time”).

Stipends

Investigative Medicine does not provide stipend support. Applicants must have two years of guaranteed stipend support from their home department or division.

The majority of student stipends during the first two years in the program are covered by T32 training grants to a subspecialty section/department. In other cases, stipends are provided by the department, or as part of the residency training program.

Most students in the program are U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents permitting support by National Research Service Awards (NRSA). International students should take this into consideration before applying.

During the final years in the program, most students are funded either by grants awarded to the thesis advisor, by government or private foundation fellowships to the students or by external funds.

Policy on Protected Time

Study toward the Ph.D. degree is a full-time commitment; therefore students are required to have 90% protected time. This protected time is critical to the student’s success given the time commitment required to pursue course work and program-related activities. It is recommended that clinical duties be restricted to one-half day per week.

Tuition and Other Costs

Tuition is covered by funds from training grants and career development (K) awards and/or the Yale School of Medicine. Books, library fees, and other ancillary costs are not covered by the program.

Loan Repayment Program (LRP)

Applicants may be eligible for the Loan Repayment Program (LRP) for clinical investigators which provides for repayment of a portion of the educational loan debt. Information regarding the eligibility requirements and benefits of the program may be obtained via the LRP website.