Lisa Hodge, PhD, Assistant Dean for Specialized MS Programs
Center for BioHealth Building CBH 345
Phone: 817-735-2110
E-mail: Lisa.Hodge@unthsc.edu
The Master of Science (MS) program in Medical Science is a specialized master’s program designed to provide additional opportunities to those individuals who would like to enhance their credentials for entry into medical, dental, chiropractic, pharmacy, physical therapy, or other professional school. This result is achieved by offering a strong, challenging biomedical sciences curriculum in the environment of a health science center. The average time to complete the program is twelve months.
Medical Sciences Specialized M.S. Program
Cohort
The cohort (on campus) option is designed for the student that works best in a team setting alongside other students with daily faculty interaction. Cohort students will participate in didactic lectures interacting in real-time with faculty and other students. Cohort students participate in the cadaver lab for Gross Anatomy and team-based learning exercises. The cohort option begins each summer semester which enables students to complete the degree requirements by the following spring, in time to matriculate into professional programs immediately. A comprehensive list of course requirements is available online.
Online Track Option
The online option is designed for the student that wants to improve his/her qualifications for applying to professional school while balancing work, family, and enrollment. The MS coursework is completed 100 percent online. In addition to the rigorous basic science curriculum, including anatomy training using a computer model, students will have access to interview preparation and advisors. The average time to complete the program is 18 months with full-time enrollment. A comprehensive list of course requirements is available online.
Campus resources are available including Financial Aid, the Library, Career Services, and the Center for Academic Performance, without traveling to our physical location.
2-Year Research Track Option
The successful applicant to the Medical Science Research Track will have excelled in the requirements for the Medical Science discipline and expressed a strong interest in education and/or research within a specific field. Interested students will interview with faculty and create a project proposal outline prior to transfer into this track.
In addition to the Medical Science curriculum, students will undertake a combination of additional courses and independent project(s) to be completed in campus laboratories, and produce a practicum report on the latter. Students will work with an advisory committee for the production of the practicum report.
Program Success
This program has been very successful in assisting students in bettering their chances for acceptance into a professional school. In the class that graduated in 2017, 88 percent of students who matriculated graduated with a master’s degree. Approximately 82 percent of these were successful in gaining admission into medical, dental, or physician assistant schools in the State of Texas and across the United States.
Opportunities for Graduates in Medical Science
The MS in Medical Science program responds to the need for generalist graduate study in the medical sciences to provide students with the background required for the pursuit of a variety of careers in the health professions. It is a broad-based curriculum that can provide the student with requirements to pursue medical school, dental school, veterinary school, advanced graduate education, or enter a career in allied health sciences, such as public health and health care administration, clinical research, or in non-research positions including managerial and biotechnology patent law, teaching, and medical writing.