The NOD track provides a
training venue within the Neuroscience Graduate Program
(NGP) for medically trained personnel (Clinical
Residents) that will emphasize research in basic
biomedical mechanisms that contribute to the etiology
and expression of diseases of the nervous system.
The unique PhD-training
venue is a "track" within the NGP that specializes,
either by content or approach, in research related to
disease processes and will be focused on providing
training to MD-degreed advanced trainees, such as
residents and fellows. MD-PhD pre-doctoral
students and conventional graduate students may also
take advantage of course offerings in the track.
Individuals who acquire this additional research
training will be better prepared to contribute
successfully to the academic enterprise and
translational research. It is anticipated that
post-graduate clinical trainees primarily in the
following departments or divisions might have interest
in such a program: Anesthesiology,
Gastroenterology, Neurology, Neurosurgery,
Otolaryngology, Ophthalmology, Pathology, Psychiatry and
Radiology. Because of their position in their
career development, it is anticipated that such
MD-degreed trainees will be attracted to a program
that has minimal time requirements, maximal laboratory
exposure and significant relevance to one or more
neurological psychiatric disorders.
Policies of the Graduate
School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) specify that tracks
within programs may be highly specialized or unique so
long as the core course requirements (or equivalents to
them) of the parent program are utilized and that
doctoral trainees in such tracks meet requirements for
admission to candidacy and writing and defending a
doctoral dissertation. The NOD track meets these
criteria and has been approved by the NGP Curriculum
Committee and the faculty of the NGP, by the GSBS
Curriculum and Executive Committees, by the GSBS
faculty, by the Dean of the GSBS, and by the Academic
council of Deans.
Curriculum (Overview)
Since postgraduate MD trainees entering this program will have already been
exposed to a full medical school curriculum as well as
specialized clinical experience, it is not anticipated
that they will need exposure to most of the coursework
currently in place for conventional graduate students in
the NGP, including courses in the Basic Biomedical
Sciences Curriculum (BBSC) and program-specific courses
in the NGP. However, because modern medical school
curricula tend to underemphasize basic sciences details
and research exposure, and because it is likely that
most of these trainees have had minimal experience with
state-of-the art research techniques in molecular
biology, genetics, electrophysiology, imaging and other
methodologies relevant to modern research, it is
advisable that certain courses be developed to assist
these trainees in acquiring the skills and background
necessary to utilize these technologies and understand
their relevance. A new series of five one-credit
-hour core courses (Neurobiology of Disease I-V) for
this track that provides a broad overview of the basic
sciences underpinnings of most common neurologic
diseases is in place. Basic information can also
be acquired through participation in the NGP seminar
program and in existing (and new) journal clubs and
electives that focus on various diseases, systems or
problems in neuroscience. Methods and techniques
can be acquired through laboratory experience and via
several "methods courses" offered in various graduate
programs. Developing an appropriate didactic
curriculum that requires minimal time but significant
transfer of information will be a key element for such a
new track. The trainees will be required to pass a
written qualifying examination and to defend their
dissertation proposal and dissertation under current
program and graduate school policies. The
membership of the Supervisory Committee may be modified
so as to incorporate participation by clinical
researches or disease experts.