Graduate Program in Clinical Science

The Graduate Program in Clinical Science provides advanced education for health care professionals who wish to conduct research in human subjects and populations. A growing national emphasis on translational research has increased the need for researchers with this career goal. Scientific investigations in humans are essential for understanding human biology and for advancing medicine and human health. This multi-disciplinary graduate program leads to either a PhD or MS degree.

Some requirements for application to this program are different from other GSBS programs. To be eligible to apply to the CS program, applicants must first identify a source of financial support and a mentor who is willing to support a MS thesis or PhD dissertation research project. The research mentor is expected to have a faculty appointment at UTMB. Funding may be provided by a mentor’s grant, training grants or from departmental funding. These commitments to the applicant must be reflected in support letters that are part of the application.

A Course Advisory Committee for each student guides the choice of required courses and electives that complement each student’s career goals. Courses are selected from offerings of the Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences and the School of Public and Population Health. Introductory courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, and research design and methods are required. Courses offered by other schools and universities, including those in the Gulf Coast Consortium, may be selected by special arrangement. Course plans have been developed within specialized areas of scholarly concentration. See examples below. When most course work has been completed, a Ph.D. Dissertation or M.S. Thesis Supervisory Committee is formed to oversee completion of an original mentored research experience.

The Program is offered and administered by the Institute for Translational Sciences (ITS), which is the home of UTMB’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health. Partial support for students is available on a competitive basis from the Herzog Foundation Fund and other GSBS scholarships, For more information, contact the ITS Education Office.


convo05

Clinical Science Scholarly Concentrations

Clinical Science Program Scholarly Concentration

  • Clinical Investigation Scholarly Concentration
    This scholarly concentration emphasizes patient-oriented research, including understanding and application of basic biological sciences, laboratory methods used in clinical research, biostatistics, epidemiology, ethics in clinical investigation, design of clinical studies, and new drug development. Graduates will be equipped to translate basic science knowledge to the development of new therapeutic and preventive approaches. This includes research into basic mechanisms of disease and clinical trials of new therapies
  • Health Services Scholarly Concentration
    This scholarly concentration emphasizes methods for assessing and improving the delivery of effective and cost efficient health care, with the aim of enhancing disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Advanced education leads to proficiency in biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, and survey research, health policy and management, design of observational and evaluative studies, and health care economics.
  • Biostatistics Scholarly Concentration
    This scholarly concentration emphasizes statistical and mathematical analysis of biomedical data. Graduates will be able to design and analyze observational and experimental studies. Doctoral-level biostatisticians are expected to have knowledge of a wide variety of analytic methods, a deep understanding of the rationale for the use of the methods, and the ability to either employ or develop new methods. Through a sequence of courses, students learn the theory and methods of biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, health services, and social and behavioral science.
  • Health Informatics Scholarly Concentration
    This scholarly concentration emphasizes the opportunities posed by the dramatic increase in health care information and its associated technologies. It reflects the increase in large informational databases such as electronic medical records, and their great potential for analyzing stored information for research on improving human health and delivery of cost-effective medical care. Several courses in health information technology are taught through an educational initiative with UT Houston's School of Biomedical Informatics.

Graduate Program Director

CS Director

Daniel C. Jupiter, PhD

(Interim)

Co-Director

CS Co-Director

Jacques Baillargeon, Ph.D.

adj_baillargeon