Announcement: MD+ to offer graduate training opportunities for MD students
Schulich Medicine students can now pursue professional and graduate training while completing their Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. They will be able to explore space medicine, non-medical interests, public health or law, get hands-on research-intensive experience in the basic sciences, pursue work in Africa, or dig into the history of medicine to understand its impact on care today,
The School has launched a new track called MD+, which offers medical students four different pathways to pursue a master’s degree or certificate in a wide variety of subjects. Each pathway offers different learning models and focuses on unique program areas. At the end of four or five years of study, depending on the option the student chooses, they will graduate with two degrees.
Through MD+, students will be able to continue with their pre-medicine interests, explore leadership skills, seek opportunities to broaden knowledge and expand their career abilities.
“MD+ is a student-focused strategic opportunity that we created after listening to our students,” said, Dr. John Yoo, Dean of Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. “And with it we are giving students an opportunity to pursue a highly individualized approach to their education. MD+ offers students new options to explore interdisciplinary learning that will support their future success.”
The creation of MD+ was also inspired by current and past MD program students who arranged similar opportunities through their own initiative and had great experiences.
“I know just how difficult it is to pursue graduate training during and after residency and we wanted to create a construct that reduces those challenges while broadening new possibilities for our students,” he said.
This new track offers access to some of Western’s newest and most unique graduate programs including the Master of Public Health, Professional Master’s in Interdisciplinary Space Studies, Master of Management of Applied Science in Global Health Systems and the Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences. It also includes more traditional thesis-based master’s offerings in basic medical sciences.
The School is continuing to work with all faculties at Western to further expand the offerings through MD+ and expects to have a larger slate of graduate degree and certificate opportunities by the fall of 2021.
“We are very excited about MD+. It is an initiative that is unique among medical schools. More importantly it opens up limitless possibilities for our students,” said Dr. Yoo.
