Transferring MSTP programs?

[PHreak]

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I'm a second year MSTP student who is interested in pursuing a PhD in epidemiology. I entered the program fully expecting to do something more traditional like cell biology, but the more I'm finding out about epidemiology, the more passionate about it I'm becoming. And I've found out quite a bit--I've even done a rotation with an epi professor. Fortunately, I'm attending a school that allows me to pursue this; however, the epidemiology department here is smaller, and lacks a breadth of research areas that I am looking for. In particular, I'm interested in taking on a project with a strong molecular epidemiology component, but there is very little molecular epidemiology going on within this department.

So, here's the big question: is it possible to transfer into another MSTP for reasons based solely upon research interests. I know there are several other MSTPs that have affiliations with schools of public health containing large departments of epidemiology. However, the only MSTP transfers I've heard of involve students whose mentors happen to be taking new positions at other schools. And even these instances are rare.

I realize that this isn't necessarily my only option. Perhaps I could do my research at another institution, yet remain with the program here (and perhaps this is a more realistic possibility). Or perhaps I could enter a PhD program elsewhere, and return here to complete the clinical years. Or I could develop a collaborative project between an epi prof. and a faculty member from another field (say genetics) so i get the molecular emphasis that i desire. It's comforting to know that at the very least I'll have the option of doing epidemiology here at my current institution, yet I'm determined to have a project that I'm enthusiastic about. This is my motivation for looking at these other options. To be clear, let me state that this isn't a case of an MSTP student trying to avoid the lab (after all, I AM interested in molecular work). I'm truly that enthralled with the opportunities within the field of epidemiology.


Any thoughts or advice?

 

[fantasty]

That's a good question. I am familiar with MSTP's transferring with their mentors (especially if they are far along in their program). But, I think it is challenging because the differences in programs may make logistics challenging. (I forget the final result, but we did "acquire" an MSTP student, and I think his original program had MORE requirements than we did, so in the end he was ok. But, they mentioned that it would be hard to go from a program with fewer requirements).

As for options at your institution, don't give up thinking through the options for collaboration. Perhaps if you form a strong committee, it will make up for the lack of expertise within the epi dept itself. For example, if you find a good epi mentor who is at least comfortable with molecular methods, you can pull in your committee members from other departments (genetics, etc). Depending on your focus area, too, you might find someone in pathology or biostatistics (if you have a strong stat genetics program). It might help if your epi dept has a list of secondary faculty, as this might give you some insight into the local options. (Our secondary list includes a lot of folks from clinical depts, microbiology, and genetics).

Normally, I think it's most important to find a good mentor first, then consider the options for graduate dept. But, the training in epi is significantly different than many other graduate depts, so I think your case is an exception to that rule (ps: I'm an epi person myself).

 

[freddytn]

There are a couple of MD/PhD students here whose PhD advisor is moving to another school. From what i can remember they couldn't transfer from one MD/PhD program to another but I think they had the option to transfer just the PhD program. However, I think this mostly has to do with logistics since the UIUC program is a piecemeal approach to the first year of med school.