Investigative Medicine Program

The Investigative Medicine Program (IMP), which currently awards a PhD degree in Investigative Medicine to physicians training in clinical research, serves as the administrative home for the educational component of YCCI. The IMP program currently offers PhD training to physicians, but under the CTSA, this program expands to include scholars in nursing and public health who are seeking a PhD with a focus in clinical investigation.

Goals and Structure

The Investigative Medicine Program (IMP) was developed at the Yale School of Medicine in 1999 to award a PhD degree through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to physicians training in either laboratory-based or clinically-based patient-oriented research.

The IMP serves as the physical and intellectual center for students from all of the component educational programs. A select group of YCCI scholars were chosen from:

1. clinically-trained physicians, nursing, students, and EPH students seeking a PhD degree in Health Sciences as part of IMP
2. PhD students in the “med-into-grad” portion of the Combined Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Program
3. PhD students in Biomedical Engineering who seek formal training in Health Sciences via IMP
4. MD and MD-PhD students, clinically-trained physicians, and postdoctoral fellows from the Schools of Nursing and Public Health, funded by the CTSA (formerly it would have been by the Yale’s K12 grant) or by the Roadmap T32, who are working towards a Master’s degree in Health Sciences.

Past and Present Trainees

A total of 22 trainees have matriculated since the IMP began admitting students in July 2000. The program generally admits 3-5 new students per year.  Trainees must complete at least two years of postgraduate clinical training before entering the program and typically enter after completing residency or clinical subspecialty training. Backgrounds are diverse and have encompassed training programs in General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Laboratory Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pathology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry.  Trainees are typically supported by institutional T32 awards or by institutional funds (necessary for those who are not US citizens or permanent residents) during their first two to three years of training in the IMP, analogous to biomedical science graduate students at Yale. After this, they are generally supported by their own grants or by departmental sources. 

Curriculum

The minimum overall requirements for a PhD in Investigative Medicine are 9 semester-length courses, including 6 required subjects, from a list of 10 IMP courses:  biostatistics, principles of clinical research, cellular and molecular basis of human diseases, introduction to functional genomics and structure-based drug design, writing grants [writing a K or R proposal] and manuscripts, directed reading [intense mentor-directed literature discussion in 3 thesis-related topics], ethical issues in clinical investigation, and beginning, intermediate and advanced methods in clinical research. All students are required to take the course on ethics in clinical investigation.  Students also complete 3 graduate-level electives. 

IMP: a vehicle for the integration of student training

YCCI Scholars will interact with a diverse group of other IMP students through three mechanisms:

1. All trainees will take at least three common courses in the IMP
2. An expanded biweekly Research in Progress conference for all trainees, held in the centrally located IMP offices and attended by faculty members and mentors (lunch will be provided), will provide additional opportunities for students to learn about, and to critique, their colleagues’ projects.  We have found that fruitful interdisciplinary collaborations regularly emerge from interactions in the latter forum, held for the current IMP and K-12 students.
3. All students will participate in the new YCCI Clinical Scholars’ Research Day.  Here, they will have an opportunity to make formal presentations to their peers and to faculty across the institution, allowing a broad interchange and providing valuable experience for presentations at national meetings.  This forum will also allow students who may consider applying for a position as YCCI Scholars to carefully weigh the depth and scope of work carried out by current Scholars.
4. Training in ethically responsible and community-based research will be offered to all students conducting clinical research. University-community research collaborations are increasingly common and are appropriately becoming the norm in prevention research and some other domains of clinical research.

Learn more about the Investigative Medicine Program at Yale.

IMP Programs

More about current programs for:

• Graduate Students
• Medical Students
• Residents & Fellows
• Junior Faculty

IMP Leadership

Joseph Craft, PhD

Eugene Shapiro, MD

IMP Scholars

Christopher Hoimes, OD

Edward Miller, MD

Anita Huttner, MD

Katie Moriarty, MD

Roger Jou, MD

Justin Paglino, MD

Agnes Kim, MD

Karin Provost, MD

Nancy Kim, MD

Paul Tang, MD

Jennifer Sherr, MD

Abraham Tzou, MD

Vishal Mehra, MD

Alexander Westphal, MD