The College of Osteopathic Medicine offers a Master of Science in Medical Health Sciences (MS). The program is a degree-granting medically-oriented program designed to enrich the academic knowledge base and skills of prospective medical students while strengthening their credentials for admission to medical school. The program provides students with a rigorous education consisting of 30 credits of graduate level biomedical courses enriched with research experience. The eleven-month program is comprised of basic science medical courses, a graduate biomedical science core in advanced cell biology and genetics, and basic science or clinical research experience.

For the basic medical science component of the program, students attend the gross anatomy and embryology, medical biochemistry, and medical physiology courses in the College of Osteopathic Medicine with the regular first year medical students. Students in these courses perform all activities, including cadaver dissection, clinical case presentations, seminars, and course examinations along with the first year medical students. This provides an important learning experience for the students while establishing a critical evaluation tool in determining students’ abilities to handle medical school.

Another strong component of the program is the intense biomedical research experience throughout the year. This starts off with a research tools course where common laboratory techniques are demonstrated and discussed. Students are then partnered with research active faculty and introduced to their research. The next step is the immersion of students in specific research projects during individual research. By the spring semester, students are ready to conclude their research in a mentor-directed practicum. A public presentation and a written report of the practicum conclude the program. The research component of the program provides an important tool for evaluating the technical skills expected from a well-rounded medical student. In addition, the wide array of activities during this component exposes the students to various activities that seek to develop and test abilities and behavior that are mostly difficult to evaluate in regular class work such as their ability to communicate, to discuss and reason, to demonstrate ethical behavior, and to exhibit professionalism. These activities not only prepare students to become better medical students but should enhance their credentials for admission.

An important component of the program is the inclusion of ancillary support services to help the students’ application to medical or professional schools through provisions for an MCAT test bank and tutorials in medical interviewing.

For more information, please contact the admissions department at (702) 777-1750 or via email.