Individual Development Plan
Students in the Yale MD-PhD Program are required to complete annual Individual Development Plans (IDP) which will be completed between November and January. Students meet individually with an MD-PhD program faculty Associate Director (AD) to discuss updates in their training—coursework, teaching, professional development opportunities, new learning experiences—and to define and discuss their clinical and research goals for the upcoming year. IDP meetings are an important opportunity for students to raise confidential concerns, to get advice about their training timeline, and to receive valuable feedback on their progress and activities during the prior and upcoming academic year. First-year students meet with the program Director, Dr. Barbara Kazmierczak, and students who have completed their PhD and are planning to re-enter medical training meet with Dr. Lauren Cohn, AD for Clinical Education. Students are assigned to a faculty AD that most closely aligns with their research and stay with that AD throughout their training until clinical re-entry. The AD also serves on the student’ thesis committee.