Puerto Rico Thesis

Writing, defense and submission of the thesis is subject to approval by the Ph D thesis committee.Failure to meet all of the academic requirements will lead to administrative withdrawal from the Graduate School.

Years 1 to 3 at UPR-MSC: Students are required to complete the first three years of the Medicine Program at UPR-MSC.

Students go to Yale for eight weeks the summer after their first year of medical school to complete a laboratory rotation and to attend the Yale MD-Ph D Program’s Annual Retreat.

The Yale-UPR MD-Ph D Cooperative Program allows students to obtain an MD from the University of Puerto Rico-Medical Science Campus (UPR-MSC) and a Ph D from Yale School of Medicine’s Biomedical and Biological Sciences (Yale BBS) Program in approximately eight years.

This program is targeted to those students who are committed to a research career in biomedical, translational, or health sciences, and who would meet the requirments for admission to both the Ph D program at Yale and the MD program at UPR.

This Cooperative Program will be administered from Puerto Rico by Dr.

Ricardo González-Méndez and from Yale by the MD/Ph D Program, specifically Drs.During their enrollment at Yale, students will complete all of the requirements for the Ph D.Year 8 - Return to UPR-MSC and Graduation: After receiving the Ph D from Yale University, students will return to UPR-MSC for the remainder of their medical training and to receive their MD degree.Tony Koleske, Director of the Biological & Biomedical Sciences Program, the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) of the Ph D Program to which the student has indicated an interest at Yale, the MD-Ph D Faculty Committee, and Associate Dean Richard Sleight.UPR-MSC applicants will travel to New Haven to be interviewed for the Ph D portion of their dual-degree training at the expense of the Ph D program.The students will be involved with dissertation research and advanced coursework and will take the qualifying exam at Yale.They will participate fully in activities of the Yale MD-Ph D Program, including two semesters of teaching, as well as various seminars, journal clubs, department retreats, and social/networking activities. The UPR-MSC Ph D candidates must meet all of the academic requirements of their doctoral programs, including 2 terms of teaching and completion of the required Ph D courses.Upon successful completion of the dissertation research and required course work, the Ph D will be awarded by Yale University.Students will return to UPR-MSC for the remainder of their medical training.Students will be provided with information concerning potential research mentors at Yale during their first year of medical school. They will also provide career mentoring and be involved as ad hoc thesis committee members as currently done for Yale MD/Ph D students in the final phases of their research.The Directors of this Cooperative Program will assist UPR-MSC students in selection of mentors for their summer rotation at Yale and will provide similar guidance throughout the following years of their Ph. Yale will help secure the funding for the Ph D portion of the student’s training.