Indiana Medical Scientist/Engineer Training Program

The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) Medical Scientist/Engineer Training Program (MSTP) has trained a stellar cohort of physician-scientists/engineers to conduct rigorous, innovative and clinically relevant research. Graduates are leaders in the biomedical sciences who are applying the rapid advances in scientific discovery to the development of new treatments for human disease. We aim to partner with NIGMS to support this program, requesting that 25% of our cohort be trainees on the T32 grant. Our Specific Aims are 1) to recruit a competitive cohort who have a strong commitment both to research and to patient care; 2) to train students in basic and translational research and in medicine, thus equipping graduates to succeed; and 3) to graduate students with MD and PhD degrees who are competitive for the best residency positions; and who will become leading, innovative physician-scientists/physician-engineers in academics and industry. A unique aspect of our MSTP is its long-standing partnership and synergy with the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Purdue University; the program has already graduated 20 physician-engineers. We have 108 preceptors with strong training and research records and ~$130 million in grant support. The program’s excellence is reflected in the increase in applications, from 99 in 2007 to 293 in 2021. The MSTP is the top training priority for IUSM, funded with $2 million in direct support and several MSTP-specific endowments, including $10 million from the Eli Lilly Foundation. Our program equips students to excel by providing superior programmatic structure, curricular content, mentorship, research facilities and clinical resources. IUSM is Indiana’s only allopathic medical school: it is the largest medical school in the nation, with one of the largest health systems. Our leaders prioritize student welfare and safety. Training is required in the responsible conduct of research and in research reproducibility and all graduates have published first author papers. In the last five years, 100% of our graduates matched into top-ranked residency programs across the nation, including research-intensive residencies (e.g., PSTPs). Long term, graduates are successful in academics and in industry. Here, we propose to partner with NIH to train the next generation of exceptional physician-scientists and physician-engineers in Indiana.