MD/PhD Program

UBC’s combined MD/PhD Program is an integrated program jointly administered by the Faculty of Medicine and Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Its purpose is to provide selected and highly qualified students the opportunity to combine their medical school experience with intensive scientific training in a PhD graduate program, in order to pursue careers as clinician-scientists. The program is designed such that students can receive the combined MD/PhD degree after successful completion of seven years of enrollment. The program of study is built upon the standard MD curriculum, but it is further “customized” to meet the unique PhD training program requirements of individual students based on their background, previous research experience, and chosen medical field of expertise.

In addition to fulfilling the requirements of the regular undergraduate MD curriculum, MD/PhD students will also undertake graduate level coursework as required by their chosen field of research. Curriculum planning, coursework, and research training are to be closely integrated and coordinated between the basic sciences and clinical disciplines throughout the 7-year program. Thus, graduates of the MD/PhD Program are trained as competent physicians as well as skilled scientists.

The MD component of the MD/PhD curriculum has been coordinated to retain and capitalize on the programmatic, multidisciplinary, and progressive nature of the MD curriculum. This will allow overlap and concurrent activities in clinical training and research, and facilitate timely completion of the dual MD/PhD degree with the least possible interruption in either clinical experiences or research focus.

Admission Requirements

• Preference for admission to the MD Undergraduate program is given to residents of British Columbia; however, a small number of out-of-province applicants are accepted each year.
• Overall minimum academic average of 75% and out-of-province applicants with an overall academic average of 85%.
• Minimum requirement of 90 university-transferable credits.
• Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT).