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INFORMATION FOR

MD Master of Health Science

Yale School of Medicine has established a joint degree, the MD-Master of Health Science (MD/MHS) degree, for students completing a competitively funded full fifth year of research and other requirements. This program was approved by the Yale Corporation in January 2006.

There are two pathways to the MD/MHS degree for medical students. These are a clinical research pathway and a laboratory/translational pathway. The MD/MHS degree is centered around a fifth pull-out year supported by a fully-funded one-year medical student research fellowship at Yale.

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Deadlines/Important Dates

April 10, 2023: deadline for all MD/MHS applications to OSR

Early May: Decisions sent to all MD/MHS applicants.

July 1: Program begins

Please refer to the MD Thesis Deadlines here.

NOTE: For students completing a joint MD/MHS, Step 1 and Step 2 CK must be taken by June 30 of each academic year. In the event that a student takes the exam by this deadline but subsequently receives a non-passing score, they will be administratively withdrawn due to being ineligible.

Application Instructions

Prior to accessing the application, you should review the instructions provided below. This step will help you compile the information and documents required to complete the online application.

You will need the following documents and information:

  • Your CV (PDF)
  • Four letters of approval/support (4 PDFs) that will be uploaded into the application
    • Approval by your Departmental Thesis Chair. Upload the Thesis Chair’s approval letter or email correspondence.
    • A letter of support from your MHS Advisor, a full-time Yale School of Medicine (YSM) faculty member, stating that they endorse your MHS application and will participate in the 2-3 required meetings.
    • Letters of support from your other two MD/MHS committee members, stating that they endorse your MHS application and will participate in the 2-3 required meetings.
  • Contact information for all members of your MD/MHS Thesis Committee (including, full professional title, degree(s), department, email address, and an uploaded approval letter or email correspondence)
  • The title of your proposed research project.
  • A description of your proposed research project – this should be the project proposal submitted for your One-year Fellowship funding application. (PDF)

NOTE: In addition to the MD/MHS Advisor, one committee member should be focused in either translational or laboratory research if your research is clinical, or translational or clinical if your research is laboratory based. The other should be from an area related to your work, as recommended by your MD/MHS Advisor and/or department thesis chair. At least one committee member must be from a department or section external to that of your MD/MHS Advisor. This committee will meet 2 - 3 times during the pull-out research year and will be responsible for approving the MD/MHS thesis in partial fulfillment of YSM graduation requirements.

Required Courses

Listed below are the required courses for both the Clinical Research pathway and the Laboratory/Translational pathway. Please note that students must attend at least 80% of each required course in the chosen pathway to meet the requirement for the MHS degree. These courses are in-person and must be taken during the 5th pullout year.

  • Clinical Research Pathway required courses
    • IMED 645: Introduction to Biostatistics (2 week summer course; 2 credit hours)
    • IMED 625: Principles of Clinical Research (2 week summer course; 1.33 credit hours)
    • Sect Ed 104: Applied Principles of Research (APR;10 week summer course)
    • Sect Ed 501: Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) (academic year course, 6 sessions of approximately 2 hours each; 0.24 credit hours) OR IMED 630: Ethical Issues in Biomedical Research (Fall semester, weekly sessions of 1.5 hours each; 1 credit hours).
    • An elective course may be added if desired (2 to 3 credit hours)
  • Laboratory/Translational Research Pathway required courses
    • IMED 645: Introduction to Biostatistics (2 week summer course; 2 credit hours)
    • Sect Ed 104: Applied Principles of Research (APR; 10 week summer course)
    • Sect Ed 501: Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) (academic year course, 6 sessions of approximately 2 hours each; 0.24 credit hours) OR IMED 630: Ethical Issues in Biomedical Research (Fall semester, weekly sessions of 1.5 hours each; 1 credit hours).
    • An elective course may be added if desired (2 to 3 credit hours)

Dedicated Research Time:
The cornerstone of the MD-MHS program is an intensive mentored research experience, culminating in completion of a thesis. Matriculants are expected to dedicate the vast majority of their time to program-related research activities during the one year, full-time program. Matriculants can meet these research credit hour requirements by registering for independent study. MD-MHS students generally complete 35-45 credit hours of mentored research (note: one credit hour= 45 hours of research activity), depending on courseload.

All MD-MHS students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours, comprised of a combination of coursework and research time, to meet requirements for the MHS degree.

Additional Requirements

During 5th Year
  • Participation in monthly seminars and dinners throughout the masters year.
  • A 10-minute Presentation of one’s research at seminars held in the Fall and Spring.
  • Attend three Leadership in Biomedicine Lectures and dinners.
  • Attend research seminars in fall/spring
  • Participation in monthly seminars, and other announced activities throughout the Masters year.