OHSU: Medical school and Master of Clinical Research (M.C.R.)

[callosum]

Are there any OHSU medical students or alumni who can share their experiences or knowledge about completing the human investigations program (HIP) for a master in clinical research (MCR) from OHSU while also getting completing MD program?

Benefits, pros, cons?

From what I've read, this seems like a nice option to pursue if you are interested in research (but not wanting to do an MD/Ph.D.) and it can be spread throughout 2-3 years of med school.

I'm also curious about how the tuition works out with MD and MCR..it seems that elective options during your MD curriculum might be able to be used towards your MCR or would you have just a completely separate set of tuition and fees for MCR despite being in the MD program?

Thanks!

Curriculum and Academic Programs | HIP | OHSU

The Human Investigations Program Curriculum and Academic Programs

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[medas34]

I think it's a great program! It's not spread out during your years, but rather you choose a year to take a leave of absence from regular medical school. Most people choose to to this right after taking step 1 (after finishing 2nd year), but a few do it in between 3rd and 4th year.

Benefits: can get a dual degree with no additional tuition (school pays for MCR tuition and fees), can get research experience/publications and mentorship, classes for the degree are helpful if you plan to have a future career in research.

Cons: delays graduation a year/won't graduate with your classmates

Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!

EDIT: also to clarify, there is also a 5 month track in the physician-scientist program, but you do not get the MCR dual degree. This might be what you were talking about in terms of elective credits/normal tuition going towards it. This option lets you graduate on time (within 4 years) while having some dedicated for research, but your elective time will likely be more limited 3rd/4th year.

 

[callosum]

Thank you for the detailed information, it's very helpful!
The physician-scientist route is what I was thinking about and it's good to know that the tuition is covered if you do the one year off to pursue this.

I do have a few other questions that maybe you can help me out with? Sorry for the long post (the more I stew on things, the more questions I have) 🙂

• I'm guessing that there shouldn't be a problem with financial aid (loans) covering cost-of-living for an additional year? (Related to this, I guess a con is that you will have even more debt at the time of graduation.)
• Are there options to get a MCR while in residency? Advantages/disadvantages of pursuing MCR while in residency (if this is possible) compared to the skills you will gain through residency level research experience/opportunities? (One con I am thinking about is that if you wait till residency to do MCR, then you may not have the opportunity to participate in research prior to applying to residency which could affect your chances of matching into certain programs).
  • I was reading that some residencies have options for research built into them, but it seems like these opportunities are similar to the 5 month physician-scientist track. For example, OHSU's neurology residency (neurology has been my passion) encourages opportunities to participate in the HIP.
    • from OHSU neurology residency program description page;
      • "Qualified candidates with dedication to an academic research career may apply during their PGY-2 year to enter this program, which blocks three to six months across the end of PGY-3 and beginning of PGY-4 years to permit dedicated research experiences. The research block is meant to provide the foundation for applications for mentored research grants such as a K23 or VA Career Development award. The research block is in lieu of other residencies elective time. Residents continue continuity clinic and night call (currently about every 10th night) during the research block, but are otherwise free of clinical responsibilities while on the research block.
        Residents interested in clinical research can concurrently apply to participate in the OHSU Human Investigators Program, which provides comprehensive training in clinical research study design, statistical analysis, grant writing, and manuscript writing and presentation.
• Lastly, any thoughts, recommendations, or tips on how to navigate/weigh participating in research programs such as these while also considering the burden of student debt? While I wish passion could be the sole point for decision making, I am also married and have two young children and expect to have ~400k of debt at graduation (not including taking an additional year for research.) I am also planning on entering a comparatively lower-income specialty, neurology. Granted, I am probably putting the cart before the horse, but having a family pushes me to gain as much foresight for how things could look as possible. Of note, I have been researching the advantages of IBR, PAYE, REPAYE, loan consolidation and PSLF programs. Looking at my expected debt to income ratio, it seems IBR and PSLF would be the best path for me..
  
  Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

[medas34]

No worries!

• You will still be considered a full-time student so nothing should change in regards to your ability to get financial aid packages. The one thing is that if you get medical/dental insurance through the school, I believe you have to find an outside provider for the year
• You can definitely enroll in the MCR degree program as a resident/fellow/faculty (most students in the program are actually not medical students), but I'm not sure how tuition works. My guess would be that you might have to pay tuition out of pocket unless the department sponsors you (not sure about this). I personally wanted to get the degree during medical school because I felt like I would have far more time now than later as a resident and wanted to get research experience so that I could be more competitive when applying to research-oriented residencies. An advantage of doing the MCR during residency though would be that your research project is more likely to be directly related to what you will spend your career researching and you have more knowledge to design your own projects vs. as a medical student, you may not know yet for sure what specific field you are going into
• The last question is tricky; the free tuition as a medical student is a benefit, but taking out an extra year of living expense loans can definitely add up. I don't know too much about what the pay is like, but I do know that if you do research programs as a resident/fellow, you often do get a living expense which is better than working unpaid as a student, and you can also apply for training grants that provide a living stipend. But also, even for the MCR program as a medical student, I do know there are grants like the OCTRI TL1 that you can apply for which provides a stipend.