All degree and certificate programs are offered through the Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.  Program applicants must meet the eligibility and admission requirements of the Graduate School and of the Department of Clinical Sciences.

Degree & Certificate Programs

For detailed information about each program, please see the following links..

Master of Science in Clinical Science with Distinction
(Clinical Research Scholars Program)--This track, designed for Postdoctoral Fellows and Junior Faculty of exceptional scholarship and aptitude towards critical thinking, is intensely focused on long-term career development.  It is intended for individuals who are current fellows, faculty, or have been offered a faculty position that will allow them the time and departmental support needed to pursue research-focused career goals. Graduates from this track will be equipped to become independent principle investigators of research grants, capable of leading multidisciplinary research teams and will become leaders in their particular field of interest.

Master of Science in Clinical Science
Designed for Postdoctoral Fellows and Junior Faculty, this track is intended for individuals who are current postdoctoral fellows, faculty, or have been offered a fellowship or faculty position that will allow them the time and departmental support needed to pursue research-focused career goals. Graduates from this track will be equipped to apply for funding as independent investigators. 

Graduate Certificate
This track is designed for Postdoctoral Fellows and Junior Faculty. It is intended for individuals who are current felllows, faculty, or have been offered a fellowship or faculty position that will allow them the time and departmental support needed to pursue research-focused career goals. Graduates from this track will be pivotal participants in clinical research studies and programs.

Basic Certificate
(Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship)--This track partners with the University’s Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship program. It is designed to develop promising student researchers who intend to pursue careers in patient-oriented research but who may not pursue formal graduate education in research (i.e., Ph.D. doctoral training).

Mechanisms of Disease (Ph.D.)
This track is designed for basic science graduate students in the Integrative Biology Graduate Program who are dedicated to careers in translational research.

M.D./Masters Program
This track partners with the University’s Medical School. It is designed to develop promising medical students into translational clinical researchers who are fluent in both medical and scientific processes.

Curriculum

For detailed information about these courses and seminars, please see the following links.

Didactic Courses
UT Southwestern offers one of the nation’s most comprehensive clinical research curricula.  Currently we offer 24 full-semester courses in research principles and methods through the Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.  Our didactic courses were developed entirely with the clinical investigator in mind and were not taken from other previously designed courses or programs.  Our instructors include faculty and clinical investigators with a wide range of expertise including clinical research design and methods, biostatistics, epidemiology, and outcomes and health services research.

Socratic Curriculum
Our program includes a highly innovative Socratic curriculum to complement our didactic curriculum.  The Socratic curriculum consists of a rich selection of seminars and workshops — conducted using an interactive Socratic approach — which provide continuous opportunities for clinical investigators to exchange ideas, present and defend their work, critique the work of others, promote multidisciplinary team-building, build an institutional reputation as an expert in their field, and participate in forums mimicking real-life conditions of peer-review.

Practicum

The primary goal of the practicum research experience is to take the student through all of the experiences typical of an independent clinical investigator, but in a mentored and supportive environment.  Practicum components are selected for the trainee based on the track entered. 

Mentored Research Project
Trainees should function as the lead investigator in a study that involves the prospective collection of data (and thus may not rely primarily on existing data). The specific project may be developed by the mentor(s), but it should serve as an introduction to clinical or translational research practices. All training tracks are required to complete a mentored research project.

Critical Literature Review
Under the guidance of a mentor(s), the trainee will carry out a thorough review of the literature pertinent to the trainee’s chosen field of focus, critically analyze the evidence, and identify specific questions to be prospectively addressed in future research. This review of the literature should be ossified in the form of a formal journal article of publishable quality. This should be a career-founding article. Clinical Research Scholars are required to complete this project. Masters students, under program advisement, may either complete this project or a Grant Application, depending on their current career path.

Independent Research Project
The trainee should develop an independent research project proposal, which may be submitted as a pilot award application (when funding is needed to provide preliminary data for a formal K23/R01 or equivalent grant application).  Clinical Research Scholars are required to carryout independent clinical research where he or she functions as the principal investigator and oversees a research team to carry out the proposed research. 

Grant Application
The capstone to the Masters Programs, trainees should develop a full K23/R01 or equivalent peer-reviewed grant application based on their area of focus and drawing from their Independent Research Project and Critical Literature Review. Clinical Research Scholars are required to complete this project. Masters students may complete this project or a Critical Literature).

For questions about research practicum project requirements, deliverables, and review and approval processes, please contact Joel Tolson at (214) 648-7865 or email at joel.tolson@utsouthwestern.edu.