Investigative Medicine Program

The Investigative Medicine Program is an innovative training program in clinical investigation for physicians that leads to a Ph.D. degree in Investigative Medicine awarded from the Yale Graduate school of Arts and Sciences.

The over-arching goal of the graduate program is to provide the training required to develop a broad knowledge base, analytical skill, creative thinking and the hands-on experience demanded of clinical researchers devoted to either laboratory-based or clinically-based patient-oriented investigation.

Admission to the Investigative Medicine Program is competitive, across multiple disciplines (clinical subspecialties), and with a choice of focus on either patient-oriented research, disease oriented research, or basic “translational” laboratory research.

Students are provided with individualized research training encompassing both formal coursework and practical experience, under the supervision and mentorship of a senior faculty member.

Students can undertake thesis work in a variety of disciplines. These include: evaluating risk factors and interventions for disease using modern concepts in quantitative methods and clinical study design; exploring the molecular basis for a disease from the laboratory standpoint; investigating the biochemical, physiologic and genetic basis for disease in the setting of a Clinical Research Center.

Requirements for the Ph.D. degree are completion of a didactic curriculum of required and elective courses, comprehensive examination, and a research project resulting in a dissertation – under the guidance of a Qualifying and Thesis Committee.

Students will be able to obtain a Ph.D. degree in a timeframe not substantially different from that required for research training in most medical subspecialties. It is expected that most students will complete the program in 3-4 years.