About the Program

The Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program is training physician-scientists who will become the next generation of leaders in biomedical research. Weill Cornell Medicine, The Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center combine to form one of the few inter-institutional collaborations dedicated to joint MD and PhD training.

Tri-I graduates are prepared to lead tomorrow's biomedical research efforts and to carry the knowledge acquired from basic research to the bedside. The eminent clinical and research faculties of the three institutions provide a stimulating environment for both basic research and medical training. With over 250 participating faculty members, and an organization that fosters student freedom and independence, Tri-I offers unparalleled opportunities for individualized research training. Since its inception in 1972, almost 500 graduates have been prepared to tackle the urgent medical research needs of society. The program awards the MD degree from Weill Cornell Medical College and the PhD degree from Weill Cornell Graduate School, The Rockefeller University, or Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School. Each year over 600 students apply for on average 16-18 positions, which are fully funded from start to finish-in part by the National Institutes of Health's Medical Scientist Training Program.

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In 2013, scientists at MIT and at UC Berkeley optimized a way to use bacterial gene sequences to cut and change DNA at precise locations. The genome-editing system, called CRISPR, is cheaper and simpler than previous methods, and it has led to breakthroughs in diagnostics and the creation of more accurate disease models.
Fifth year Tri-Instutional MD-PhD student, Jay Shi, has been awarded an F30 fellowship from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute for his project "Dynamic Organization of Cell Architecture in Multicellular Tissues."

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