PhD/MD TRAINING IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

Abstract

This chapter reviews PhD/MD training in biomedical engineering. The ultimate in biomedical engineering training that combines both engineering and the life sciences is one leading to the PhD in engineering and to the MD. Even before the identification of biomedical engineering as a distinct discipline, there were isolated examples of students achieving degrees in engineering or science and the MD. The medical training usually did not follow as a result of long-range planning but rather as a result of a change in vocational objective. The student entering the biomedical engineering PhD/MD program must have a B.S. degree and this usually is in some branch of engineering. The PhD portion of the training is generally completed first, ideally in the first four or five years. Regardless of educational level or specific goal, all biomedical engineering programs are characterized by the integration of training in engineering science and technology with the life sciences. What distinguishes the PhD/MD in biomedical engineering is the broad introduction to the basic life sciences coupled with training in clinical medicine. The PhD part of the training closely parallels that of the PhD bioengineer except that typically the research topic is one reflecting a clinical problem. Students are attracted to the PhD/MD program to further their interest in research that may involve human subjects and generally wish to combine some clinical practice with their conduct of research.