phd programs harvard medical school

Medical Sciences

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The Division​ of Medical Sciences is one of the programs in the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences that facilitates collaboration and cross-disciplinary research. Visit HILS for additional  application instructions .

Established at Harvard University in 1908, the Division of Medical Sciences (DMS) provides students wishing to pursue careers in research and teaching with a broad education in basic biomedical science fields and specialization in one of them. Classroom and laboratory instruction are conducted primarily by faculty in the basic sciences departments and affiliated hospital laboratories of Harvard Medical School, leading to a PhD awarded by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS). For over 100 years, this fruitful collaboration has spawned research achievements across the spectrum, from basic science to experimental medicine. Since 1909, more than 2,800 division graduates, including six Nobel Laureates, have gone on to distinguished careers in biomedical research, university teaching, and a number of increasingly diverse careers.

DMS offers six interdisciplinary areas of study leading to a PhD in the biomedical sciences, which share a common purpose of fostering a stimulating and supportive environment for research training in the biomedical sciences:  Biomedical Informatics , ​ Biological and Biomedical Sciences ,  Immunology ,  Neuroscience ,  Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology , and Virology .

DMS students are enrolled in and receive a PhD from Harvard Griffin GSAS even though they may work primarily with Harvard Medical School faculty. 

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Division of Medical Sciences , and requirements for the degree are detailed in  policies .

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Division of Medical Sciences .

In the application for admission, select Division of Medical Sciences as your degree program choice and your area of interest from the area of study drop down.

If you have published articles, please list these in the Academic History section of the application for admission, citing the PubMedID.

All DMS programs conduct personal interviews as part of the application process. Invitations for interviews are usually sent out between late December and early January depending on the program.

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Not Accepted for Biological & Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience, Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, and Virology. Optional for Biomedical Informatics and Immunology. GRE Subject: Optional for Biomedical Informatics and Immunology. iBT TOEFL minimum score: 100 IELTS minimum score: 7

Biomedical Informatics

BIG track: Applicants to the BIG program typically have majored in a quantitative field (e.g., computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics, bioengineering) with a demonstrated interest in biological sciences OR have majored in a biological science but with considerable aptitude in computer programming and quantitative methods.

AIM track: The AIM program aims to train students who have majored in a quantitative field to solve problems in biomedicine and clinical care. There isn't a fixed set of requirements for preparation. However, as the program is computationally and quantitatively rigorous, successful applicants will show mastery of fields such as statistics, linear algebra, computer science, and machine learning. Though not necessary, foundational biological or medical knowledge will be a benefit.

Neuroscience (PIN)

While there are no specific degree subject, course, or research requirements, applicants are expected to have rigorous undergraduate coursework in the sciences, including biology, chemistry, and physics, and prior lab research experience. Applicants who have trained outside of neuroscience and biology are expected to have a demonstrated interest in neuroscience.

The statement of purpose should help the admissions committee get to know each applicant as a person and as a scientist. How did your background and lived experience help shape you as a scientist? What are your interests and goals in graduate school? How do your research experiences and goals fit within this context? You should briefly establish a contextual framework, provide a summary of your research experience, including the question(s)/topic(s) of your research, their importance, your hypotheses, how you tested your hypotheses, your findings, possible outcomes, and how you interpreted those outcomes.

Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology (SHBT)

Applicants who are invited for on-campus interviews are notified in late December. Interviews generally occur in late January as part of a series of activities beginning on a Thursday evening and ending the following Sunday. Travel and hotel expenses for this visit are covered by the SHBT program. Invited applicants should make every effort to attend the interview weekend, but those who are unable to do so should inquire about other arrangements.

Theses and Dissertations

Theses & dissertations for Division of Medical Sciences

See list of Division of Medical Sciences faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Undergraduate Major in Genetics

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2024 Microbiology and Genetics Graduate Sean Prell Receives the CALS Academic Achievement Award and Will Pursue Medicine at Harvard Medical School

May 6, 2024 See the full article: https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/2024/cals-academic-achievement-awardee-sean-p…

UC Davis Graduate Studies

Medical device development, about the program, learn more about the program.

This intensive and focused 9-month graduate program provides students a carefully crafted curriculum and hands-on opportunities to develop new skills in medical product development, business and leadership, device fabrication and the engineering design process. Students will have direct access to state-of-the-art technology at the TEAM Lab at Aggie Square, UC Davis’ Sacramento-based innovation hub, and interact with experts at the Graduate School of Management, School of Medicine and throughout the health sciences community.

College of Engineering

Admissions and Fellowship Information

UC Davis General Admission Requirements Program Admissions Requirements

Admissions Actions

PhD in Business program track Operations Research

The Operations Research (OR) group aims at conducting cutting-edge research in deterministic OR research, stochastic OR, and game theory. The focus of the program is on fundamental theoretical research for improving the quality of decision making in business.

The members of the OR-research group have been educated in disciplines such operations research, mathematics, computer science, data science and machine learning, and econometrics. They apply their methods to a wide range of areas: logistics and transport, energy transition, environmental issues, information systems, finance and accounting, healthcare, and network structures. Another important application field are the research topics investigated by the Zero Hunger Lab (ZHL).

Research field

Deterministic or.

The research area of deterministic OR includes research on polynomial optimization, semidefinite programming, graph theory, discrete and continuous optimization and optimal control. It includes the development of fast algorithms and procedures in a wide range of optimization problems. Applications include travelling salesman problems, food supply chain optimization, healthcare treatment, network design, and scheduling problems.

Stochastic OR

A common feature in stochastic OR is the presence of uncertainty. Research methods in this field originate from probability theory, Markov chains, simulation, stochastic control theory, and real options.

Robust optimization is a specialized technique to find optimal solutions that are robust against uncertainties in the underlying data. Applications include big data, food supply optimization, radiotherapy optimization and dike height optimization.

Game Theory

Solutions of optimization problems typically involve coordinated behavior and cooperation between several actors or players. To establish and maintain stable cooperation, game theoretic techniques construct adequate strategic incentives and/or allocation mechanisms to share the jointly generated revenues or cost savings. Applications include scheduling and vehicle routing problems, network congestion problems, financial networks, joint investment decisions, and energy transition.

PhD research projects can take place within any of these research fields.

First year PhD development program for a PhD in Operations Research

For each PhD student in Operations Research a tailor-made PhD Development Plan (DP) will be composed at the start of the 4-year PhD period by the PhD student and the OR Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC).

A DP will consist of three parts: coursework (36 ECTS), soft skills development like scientific integrity, academic writing, or teaching skills (3 ECTS), and a research proposal or first paper, as part of the research training by the supervisors (9 ECTS). The coursework will typically contain the following elements:

• The 6 ECTS course Orientation Research Topics in OR (230326-M-6).
• A selection of PhD courses offered by the Dutch Network on the Mathematics of OR (LNMB). For more information, see: www.lnmb.nl .
• A selection of at most 15 ECTS of Master courses offered by the LNMB or the Master courses offered by the joint program in Mathematics of the Dutch universities (Mastermath). For more information, see www.lnmb.nl and https://elo.mastermath.nl .
• A selection of Master courses offered by the Tilburg University MSc program in Business Analytics and Operations Research (BAOR). For more information on these courses, please visit the  Master's program Business Analytics and Operations Research .
• In individual cases, a selection of Master or Research Master courses from programs at Tilburg University.  

All DPs should be approved by the GPC and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) as integral part of the individual Training and Supervision Plan (TSP) within the PhD tracking system Hora Finita.

After the first year, there is a formal GO/NO GO decision.

Placement records

During the past ten years, on average 3 PhD students started the PhD program each year. They all successfully defended their PhD thesis. About 50% of these students came from outside the Netherlands. Two out three remained with academia, mainly in postdoc positions, assistant professorships or lecturer positions at institutes like CWI, Maastricht University and Eindhoven University within the Netherlands, and Harvard Medical School, Clemson University, and Technion Israel Institute of Technology outside the Netherlands.  About one out of three has chosen for a professional position as for example scientific analyst or consultant at TNO or CQM. 

To get some further impression, please have a look at the personal websites of three former PhD students:

• Hao Hu : Hao defended his PhD thesis on semidefinite programming and combinatorial optimization in 2019 and currently is an assistant professor at Clemson University, United States of America after  a two-year postdoc position at Waterloo University, Canada:  personal website Hao Hu
•  Bas Dietzenbacher : Bas defended his PhD thesis on game theory in 2018 and currently is an assistant professor at Maastricht University after a two-year postdoc position at HSE University in Saint Petersburg, Russia:  personal website Bas Dietzenbacher
• Frans de Ruiter : Frans defended his PhD thesis on robust optimization cum laude in 2018 and currently is a decision scientist at CQM (Consultants in Quantitative Methods) in Eindhoven:  personal website Frans de Ruiter

Key publications

View recent publications of the operations research group

Meet the faculty of the operations research group and their research interests

Graduate Program Coordinator PhD in Business – track Operations Research

Prof. dr. peter borm.

Full Professor

TiSEM: Tilburg School of Economics and Management TiSEM: Department of Econometrics and Operations Research

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