Jackson Jambalaya

First- and second-year students in the SOM can apply for admission to the MD-PhD program. The journey is eased for all by significant financial support: an annual stipend and tuition scholarships during their training period.

They’re training to become physician-scientists, their education focused on medical knowledge and the ability to productively investigate issues related to human disease.

Just as importantly, the Medical Center wants them to enrich the state’s health care base by staying at Mississippi's sole academic medical center for residency, fellowship and what comes next – or returning to Mississippi after finishing all or part of their training out of state.

To measure the program’s vitality, success and growth, look not just at this year’s entering class, but the students who came before them, said Dr. Joshua Speed, associate professor of physiology and biophysics and the MD-PhD program director.

“They are definitely special students who have dedicated their lives to a long journey. You really have to be self-motivated,” Speed said. “Seven years is a big commitment, even though it really is a blink of an eye in one’s career.

“Whether in recruitment or when I hear a student bring up the length it takes, I ask our students where they’re going to be in 10 years. It will go by fast, and a little extra time is nothing in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “This mentality is instilled during admissions, where we look for their long-term vision. Do they get excited when they talk about the research they’ve performed?

“The sky’s the limit for these students once they graduate.”

Speed “has done a phenomenal job continuing to grow this program,” said Dr. Sydney Murphy, dean of the SGSHS. “He’s rejuvenating it, and this year we have a strong incoming cohort.

“We’re excited about training a new group of physician-scientists who hopefully will stay in the state.”

The MD-PhD program’s curriculum shifted over time, said Dr. Sarah Sterling, professor of emergency medicine, who with Dr. Licy Yanes Cardozo, professor in the departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Medicine/Endocrinology, work with the MD-PhD program.

“Previously, students completed their preclinical work in medical school and then transitioned to the graduate phase, where they spent three years focused on their PhD work,” she said. “The students would then transition back to the medical school and finish their two clinical years. While this provided excellent training, the MD-PhD students would enter their PhD work without much clinical experience.

“Currently, students complete their first three years of medical school, including M3 clinical rotations. This allows them to enter their graduate phase with clinical insight and knowledge that shapes and enhances their research.”

The program’s growth is being driven not just by a particular year’s enrollment, but its progress going forward.

“We hope to continue enrolling an average of three per class. With great support from the SOM and SGSHS, we hope that in seven years there will be 21 students across all classes,” Speed said.

Earning the MD-PhD wasn’t on the horizon for M3 Meredith Johnson during her first year of medical school. Speed, with help from Dr. Demondes Haynes, SOM associate dean for admissions, asked her to consider it. When she said yes, that grew the size of the Class of 2030 from one to two.