Dear Students,

Program activities entail:

All years
Retreat: An annual (mandatory) retreat for students, mentors, steering committee members and senior administrative faculty is held on a Sunday in April at the Sunwood conference center. All students are required to attend and to give seminars and/or provide abstracts. We would encourage all mentors to attend, and in particular, we would ask you to make every attempt to be present for the relevant session in the years in which your student is making an oral presentation of their research.

Poster Session: An annual (mandatory) poster session is held by the students in winter in the HSC 3rd floor Galleria. All students in the PhD phase of the program are required to present a poster. We would ask you to please come and support your student as well as engage other students in the program. The event is well attended, and you will have a pleasant environment in which to catch up with your colleagues and the work on-going in their labs.

Clinical Scientist Dinners: This is a mandatory monthly evening seminar/dinner series held throughout the academic year except in December at which intramural and extramural alumni, residency directors, MSTP Directors, and clinical scientists make presentations to the students. Attendance is mandatory by SBU students. Students at CSHL and BNL are allowed to participate by videoconferencing, although we’d of course prefer that they attend in person.

Journal Club / Clinical Pathologic Correlation presentation (JC/CPC): This is a monthly evening seminar/dinner series that is also mandatory, and is held once a month from September - April. In this case, all students, including CSHL and BNL students, must attend in person; videoconference participation is not permitted.

(GS1) Program Engagement: G1 students are engaged in the program administration in three ways: interviewing MSTP candidates (generally about 5-6 interviews each) and attending 1-2 admission committee meetings a year, organizing the Clinical Scientist dinners (1-2 events each), and organizing the JC/CPC meetings (9 events). CSHL and BNL students also participate in the candidate interviewing process, although we will ensure to schedule the interviews at a time that is connected to their need to be on campus.

(GS2) “” “”: G2 students organize the annual poster session and are called upon (along with GS3 or GS4 students) to meet with MSTP candidates at lunch or dinner, or give them a tour of the medical school / research areas. Students at CSHL and BNL host the candidates when they visit these places on their second trip to SBU.

(GS3) Clinical Exercise: A year-long clinical exposure activity in the third year of graduate school is required. This entails the student regularly attending a clinic or rounding on the hospital floor (e.g. one morning every two weeks) with a specific preceptor, from September to June of that year. The GS3 year was chosen to avoid the GS1 and GS2 years in which there are many other on-going activities. By GS3, students should otherwise have a full-time research effort, and be 1-2 years away from finishing up their thesis work.

Social Events: A number of social events are held during the year to promote program identification and interaction between the students in different phases of the program. These include a welcoming lunch and evening barbeque for the new students, holiday parties, and a graduation dinner, are recommended but not required.

Miscellaneous: There are multiple types of small interactions. These include wrap-up sessions at the end of each year, and planning sessions with subsets of students to assess how the program activities worked and to plan for the coming year. Students may also wish to take courses in epidemiology or biostatistics, or to learn about clinical trials, by taking courses offered through the Preventive Medicine department and the Graduate Program in Public Health.

Return to Medical School: Students can return to medical school any time of the year. Some times will be better suited to the student’s individual goals than others though. As the end of the thesis work approaches, the MSTP will work with the student and you to best resolve any timing issues (too complicated and multi-scenarioed to outline here). However, it should be noted that as part of the transition activities, the students will need to take some mini-courses in CPR and other topics useful to know right away, and to demonstrate that their history and physical skills have been refreshed sufficiently that they will not embarrass themselves upon their entry into the clinical arena. These activities are most easily conducted in June of each year along with the second year medical school class, although special arrangements can be made if there is an unexpected opportunity to return to medical earlier than anticipated.

A semi-comprehensive set of MSTP Guidelines are posted below for your reference.

Please view these guidelines as a living document that will evolve with the changing needs and experiences of the Program (feedback welcomed!).

Special Symposia (as scheduled, every few years), and Training grant renewal activities (as scheduled, every 3-5 years) are also mandatory.

With respect to attending seminars such as EGADS, the GCRC series, or Departmental Seminars, that's up to you based on your time and interest, but as one of the several entities in charge of making sure you are aware of all of the great opportunities here for self-enrichment and training, I'll continue to bring them to your attention.

Guidelines for Incoming Students

Guidelines for Picking A Thesis Lab

Guidelines for Med 1st Year Students

Guidelines for Med 2nd Year Students

Guidelines for 1st Year PhD Students

Guidelines for 2nd Year PhD Students

MSTP Guidelines for Returning In Year 3
MSTP Guidelines for Returning In Year 3, additional info.

Guidelines re timing of termination of financial support at the end of the MSTP training period.

We will send you the appropriate guideline at each phase of your training - but please check the web file(s) as needed subsequently to ensure that you are working with the most recent version(s). The version date of each guideline will be stated at the bottom of the document, and the web site will display the version date to make the comparison check convenient. Needless-to-say, program policy will be determined by the most current version.

Best wishes, and please don't hesitate to suggest ways in which this new resource can be improved.

"Version: August 6, 2009. This version supersedes all previous versions."