MD / PhD Option for PhD Students (UPMC)


RI \| MD / PhD Option for PhD Students (UPMC)

MD / PhD Program with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

MD / PhD Program Overview

Students are first accepted into the MD / PhD Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a major medical research institution located within walking distance of the Robotics Institute. Because earning a PhD degree in Robotics typically takes longer than other PhD programs associated with the MD / PhD program, the recommended medical scientist training program (MSTP) is modified as follows to allow timely graduation.

GS - S1 Summer	MS1 Fall / Spring	GS - S2 Summer	MS2 Fall / Spring	MS2.5 Summer	GS - S3 Summer	GS1 Fall	. . .	GSn (5)	MS3

First lab rotation in the Robotics Institute	Medical school courses	Second lab rotation in the Robotics Institute	Medical school courses	8 wk clinical clerkship	Third lab rotation in the Robotics Institute	PhD program in the Robotics Institute	. . .	Graduate from the Robotics Institute

The summer before starting at the medical school, students who wish to pursue the MD / PhD in the Robotics Institute are highly encouraged to do a lab rotation in the Robotics Institute. Ideally, this is the lab in which the PhD research will take place. Interested applicants are encouraged to contact faculty, most likely (but not necessarily), from the table below according to their areas of interest.	First year of medical school. Students are encouraged to apply to secure a spot in the Robotics Institute PhD program (then defer for one year). Applications are due usually around December 15th every year. A reference letter from the research advisor in GS-S1 is useful.	Second lab rotation in the Robotics Institute. Discussion of the thesis topic with the future graduate advisor is highly encouraged.	Second year of medical school.	First 8 week long clinical clerkship.	By the third lab rotation, the research conducted during the third rotation should be related to the Ph.D. thesis topic selected with the thesis advisor.	The requirements for completing the PhD portion of the program in Robotics are exactly the same for MD / PhD students as for regular PhD students, as described in the "Robotics Institute Doctoral Program" section of the graduate education webpage. To remain in the MD / PhD program, it is critical to defend the thesis by October of the sixth year (e.g. if you start your PhD program in August 2010, you must defend before October 2015). During the PhD program, students are required to complete three longitudinal clinical clerkships.			Remainder of the medical school training mainly focused on clinical rotations, but possibly with a research rotation at the end.

Due to the intense timeline, students who pursue the PhD in Robotics in the MD / PhD program may be discouraged from participating in other curricula, getting an internship position, or taking courses beyond the requirements.

For more information, contact George Stetten (george@stetten.com) or David Touretzky (Dave_Touretzky@cs.cmu.edu).

Robotics Institute Faculty with Medically Related Research Interests

Atkeson, Chris	Assistive environments, human & robot legged locomotion.
Di Gioia, Anthony	Image guided intervention for orthopedic surgery, HipNav.
Fedder, Gary	MEMS technology, including ultrasonic transducer arrays.
Hebert, Martial	Image analysis & computer vision.
Hollis, Ralph	Haptics, teleoperation, devices for the blind.
Jaramaz, Branislav	Computer assisted surgery, medical planning, simulation & analysis.
Kanade, Takeo	Computer vision & image understanding.
Liu, Yanxi	Image analysis applied to neuroradiology.
Moore, Andrew	Data mining & machine learning from medical records for disease surveillance.
Mostow, Jack	Speech technologies, cognitive & motivational psychology, HCI.
Riviere, Cameron	Tissue engineering, MEMS sensors, computer-aided surgery.
Schneiderman, Henry	Image classification & computer vision.
Sitti, Metin	Surgical micro-robots, endocsopic micro-capsules, & bio-nanotechnology.
Stetten, George	Sonic flashlight, image gudied intervention, medical image analysis.
Touretzky, David	Computational neuroscience; hippocampal modeling; animal learning models.
Wactlar, Howard	Automated functional and behavioral analysis in long-term care (with WPIC).
Weiss, Lee	Tissue engineering, MEMS sensors, computer-aided surgery.

We attempt to provide and maintain accurate information at this web site. While revisions will be issued periodically as changes occur, The Robotics Institute and Carnegie Mellon University cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided.

The Robotics Institute is part of the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University.
This page maintained by robotwebmaster@ri.cmu.edu.