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Overview

The new MS in Clinical and Translational Science has been designed for applicants with previous clinical training or those in concurrent clinical degree programs, especially those in fellowship programs, postdoctoral training positions, or junior faculty with clinical responsibilities.

The MS in Clinical and Translational Science is intended to train clinicians to become leaders in clinical and translational research. Students, primarily post-doctoral or post-residency fellows and junior faculty, will learn the basic skills used by clinical researchers supplemented by a broad array of relevant electives that will provide basic concepts and theories consistent with each student's goals and objectives. Each student will work with his/her advisor and the program director to develop a program of study uniquely tailored to individual interests and future goals. As part of the MS in Clinical and Translational Science, students will learn to communicate their insights effectively, to write well-conceived and persuasive grant applications and to ensure the ethical treatment of their subjects. As apprentice clinical investigators, they will learn how to participate in a broader multidisciplinary research community that includes basic and social scientists, as well as clinicians from other areas of clinical practice. Graduates of the MS in Clinical and Translational Science will have the skills to direct a broad range of clinical studies, including the translation both of scientific knowledge into clinical science and of clinical science into practice.

The MS in Clinical and Translational Science consists of three basic components:
1) a multi-disciplinary didactic program,
2) a series of workshops and seminars, and
3) a research project under the mentorship of senior clinical researchers.

Completion of the program will take two years for full-time students. Part-time students will generally take three to four years to complete the program.

Curriculum

The didactic program will consist of core coursework (18 semester hours) in the following areas: quantitative methods, epidemiology, research ethics, research design, and grant writing. Students, with guidance from the program director and advisor, will select electives from a broad array of relevant courses (14 semester hours). This combination of core and elective coursework will provide students with the skills and knowledge they will need to conduct high quality clinical and translational research.

In addition to the didactic coursework, students will attend seminars to provide them with exposure to the broad range of clinical and translational research. The program has initiated a monthly Translational Research Seminar Series to provide a venue in which experienced basic and applied researchers explore a given topic. Other seminar series with different relevant focus areas may be developed as well in response to programmatic needs. Students will also attend a Professional Development workshop series.

The MS will culminate in a mentored research project in which the student will work closely with one or more senior researchers. The mentored research project will give students the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have acquired in classes and seminars/workshops. The degree of mentoring will depend on the needs of individual students, some of whom may already have extensive research experience, whereas others may have extremely limited research experience.

Program Requirements

Upon admission, the student and his or her faculty advisor develop a goal-oriented program of study that includes:

  1. Required courses, limited to:
    • BSTT 400 - Biostatistics I
    • BSTT 401 - Biostatistics II
    • EPID 403 - Introduction to Epidemiology: Principles and Methods
    • EPID 406- Epidemiologic Computing
    • HPA 590 - Grant Writing
    • MHPE 512 - Ethics in Clinical Research
    • MHPE 534 - Research Design and Grant Writing
  2. Fourteen credits of elective courses selected from across disciplines at UIC. With input from their advisor and mentor, students will choose appropriate electives that are tailored to their unique backgrounds, skill levels, areas of interest, research focus, and future goals. Students will be able to select from a broad list of elective courses because of the enormous range in prior research experience and educational programs, as well as in career objectives. All students will have to select electives to fulfill the Graduate College requirement to have completed at least nine (9) credit hours of 500-level courses excluding thesis or independent study. Click here for a list of sample electives.
  3. Sixteen credits of mentored research (IPHS 598-Research) must be completed in two to three semesters of full time work leading to the completion of a publishable paper and a research proposal. The research must be completed under the supervision of an approved clinical investigator and with the approval of a mentorship committee designed specifically for each student.

Part-time options for completion of the program are available (see Sample Course Plans).

Minimum Semester Hour Requirements

Required Courses   18 Sem Hrs
Electives   14 Sem Hrs
Research   16 Sem Hrs
     
Total*   48 Sem Hrs

At least 9 semester hours must be at the 500-level.

MS CTS Sample Course Plans

Click the following link to view Sample Course Plans

Click the following link to view Sample Electives

Final Oral Examination

The final oral examination consists of a presentation of the student's research findings at an open meeting of students and faculty and a separate oral examination in the academic division by the student's Thesis Examining Committee. The presentation should be based on the publishable paper and research proposal products of the student's clinical research project.