Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Program Overview

Vanderbilt University Medical Center takes an institutional approach at developing physician scientists with strong commitment to building a community that supports the career transitions from graduate medical education (GME) trainee to early and established faculty. Each participating department provides various opportunities and pathways for physicians to develop a robust biomedical research career geared towards generating discoveries to improve human health.

PSTP Participating Departments

• Department of Medicine: The Department of Medicine PSTP is strongly committed to the career development of physician-scientists to facilitate combined clinical and research training. Training is enhanced by membership in the Harrison Society, a select peer group of physician-scientists in training that facilitates mentoring.
• Department of Pediatrics: The mission of the Pediatrics Physician-Scientist Training Community is to accelerate established research career trajectories for residents with MD/PhD or other significant research background. 
• Department of Surgery: The Section of Surgical Sciences through the Division of Surgical Research provides investigators an exciting environment for scholarly research activities of the highest quality. 
• Department of Anesthesiology: The Department of Anesthesiology offers the opportunity for residents to participate in a wide variety of research projects in multiple settings, including basic/translational science, clinical science, healthcare informatics, and simulation-based educational research.
• Department of Pathology: The goal of the Physician Scientist Track in Pathology is to seamlessly integrate residency, fellowship and postdoctoral research training to prepare the trainee to become an  independently funded investigator in the shortest possible time after the commencement of training.  

• Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: The Vanderbilt Psychiatry Residency Research Track is designed as a flexible program that guarantees mentorship and protected time for research track residents to conduct their research projects and facilitate the successful transition into academic junior faculty positions.