FROM THE DIRECTOR...
The MSTP at Stony Brook is unique largely because of its associations
with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory. Each offer students research opportunities
and environments found nowhere else. In addition, the
Stony Brook tradition of interdepartmental and interinstitutional
graduate training assures that students from different
PhD Programs work along-side each other in a single laboratory
and within a given department. Hence, during doctoral study,
MSTP students are indistinguishable as a group from other
graduate students. In general, this style of training promotes
cooperation and collaboration rather than competition.
Philosophically, it is my belief that the students we admit to our
program contribute as much if not more than the faculty, to the
essence of dual degree training at Stony Brook. Accordingly,
flexibility is of paramount importance and all members of the
MSTP Steering Committee including myself are always willing to
discuss training and/or career options with individual students
and at great length. We do not believe that there is a single
optimal program of study leading to the combined MD-PhD, nor
is there
an ideal career path to be followed once a student graduates.
Rather, there may be as many programs and paths as there are
students and it is our objective to optimize these experiences
for each student individually. To this point, we have been largely
successful.
The Stony Brook MSTP is also unusual in its location outside a major urban
area (although only 50 minutes from Manhattan). As a result, students are
exposed to medical problems qualitatively different from those available in
a city, particularly during the clinical phase of training. This along with
their scientific experience, allows Stony Brook MSTP students to tackle human
disease from a truly unusual perspective. The novelty of this perspective is
invaluable.
Thanks very much for your interest in our Program.
With best regards,
Michael A. Frohman, M.D., Ph.D.
M.S.T.P. Director
