The curriculum is designed to provide comprehensive training in both medicine and science. Typically students complete the program within eight years, although the actual time will vary depending on each individual's rate of progress in fulfilling the requirements for both the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. The normal sequence of instruction begins with the first pre-clinical year of medical school, followed by graduate school and completion of the doctoral dissertation, and culminates in the remaining years of medical school.

In this sequence, students spend the summer after the first year of medical school doing research rotations. Alternatively, some students enter graduate school after the second year of medical school.

The two pre-clinical years of medical school at OHSU are designed to teach the basic science of medicine while introducing the art and science of medical practice. Lectures are limited to a few hours per day and the teaching format emphasizes small group discussions and self-directed learning. Courses are taught in a logical sequence and do not compete with each other. Patient contact begins early in the first year, and all students participate for an afternoon per week in a clinical preceptorship that is often a highlight of the first year's curriculum. For further information on the medical curriculum at OHSU, see the MD Program.

The graduate programs at OHSU offer outstanding opportunities for study in a variety of disciplines in biomedical research. Over the past decade there has been a tremendous expansion of research activities and facilities on campus. Students in the M.D.-Ph.D. Program may choose to do their dissertation research with faculty scientists in any of the following areas:

• Program in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
  
  
  • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  
  
  • Cell and Developmental Biology
  
  
  • Molecular and Medical Genetics
  
  
  • Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
  
  
  • Physiology and Pharmacology
  
  
• Neuroscience Graduate Program


• Behavioral Neuroscience


• Biomedical Informatics

M.D.-Ph.D. students also participate in additional educational activities. Students meet weekly over lunch during the academic year to discuss recently published biomedical research in a journal club format, to hear about the medical implications of basic research from OHSU faculty in a bench-to-bedside forum, and to participate in discussions with their peers about their own doctoral thesis research. The annual M.D.-Ph.D. Retreat is held in the fall and combines research talks and poster presentations by students and faculty with outdoor fun on the shoulder of Mount Hood. These activities are organized primarily by current students, who also are responsible for choosing a scientist from outside of OHSU to give the keynote presentation at the retreat.