Medicine & Health Sciences

Students planning careers as medical scientists typically pursue a Bachelor's degree in biology, chemistry, or a related field. Undergraduate students benefit from taking a broad range of classes including life and physical sciences, mathematics, and disciplines that focus on developing communication skills. The importance of grant writing and publishing research findings makes writing skills essential.
After students have completed undergraduate studies, students typically enter Ph.D. programs. Dual degree programs are available that pair a Ph.D. with a range of specialized medical degrees. A few degree programs that are commonly paired with Ph.D. studies are Medical Doctor (M.D.), Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.), Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.), and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.). While Ph.D. studies focus on research methods, such as project design, students in dual degree programs learn both the clinical skills needed to be a physician and the research skills needed to be a scientist.
Graduate programs place additional emphasis on laboratory work and original research. These programs offer prospective medical scientists the opportunity to develop their experiments and, sometimes, to supervise undergraduates. Ph.D. programs culminate in a thesis that the candidate presents before a committee of professors. Students typically begin to specialize in one particular field, such as gerontology, neurology, or cancers, in this phase of their studies.
Those who go to medical school spend most of the first 2 years in labs and classrooms, taking courses such as anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, psychology, microbiology, pathology, medical ethics, and medical law. They also learn how to record medical histories, examine patients, and diagnose illnesses. They also may be required to participate in residency programs, as they will have to meet the same requirements that physicians and surgeons have to fulfill.
Medical scientists often continue their education with postdoctoral work. Postdoctoral work provides valuable lab experience, including experience in specific processes and techniques such as gene splicing, which is transferable to other research projects.