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2023-24 General Bulletin

Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), PhD/Medicine, MD

Degree:  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Field of Study:  Various (Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Cell Biology, Clinical Translational Science, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Genetics and Genome Sciences, Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Molecular Virology, Neurosciences, Nutrition, Pathology, Pharmacology, Physiology and Biophysics, or Systems Biology and Bioinformatics)

Degree:  Doctor of Medicine (MD) Medicine (MD) Program Information

Program Overview

A combined MD/PhD program in biomedical sciences, the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) is available for students desiring research careers in medicine and related biosciences. This program takes seven to eight years to complete, depending on the time needed to complete the PhD dissertation research. Financial support includes a stipend and full tuition support.

Candidates must meet established prerequisites for admission to both the School of Medicine and the School of Graduate Studies. Criteria include demonstrated capabilities in research and superior undergraduate academic credentials. Applicants must have either U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status to be considered for admission to the MSTP. Information can be obtained by contacting the MSTP program  or from the program website .  Admissions are coordinated via the School of Medicine admissions program and the AMCAS application.

The first two years of the MSTP are centered on the University Program pre-clinical core medical school curriculum, which occupies five mornings each week. Afternoons include time for graduate courses and/or research rotations, as well as clinical training, thus integrating the medical school and graduate school experiences. The next three to four years are devoted to completion of graduate courses and PhD thesis research in one of the multiple MSTP-affiliated graduate programs. During the PhD phase, MSTP students participate in the MSTP Clinical Tutorial, a program designed to enhance clinical skills and allow students to develop connections between their research and clinical interests (this further addresses the goal of integrating medicine and science). After completion of the PhD program, students return to medical school for two years to complete clinical clerkships and finish the MD curriculum.

The program is administered by the MSTP Steering Committee, which consists of faculty from both basic science and clinical departments. Its functions include selecting candidates for admission, designing and administering the program curriculum, advising students and evaluating student progress.

MSTP Activities

The MSTP supports several activities that enhance the scientific and professional development of students. These activities also foster a vibrant and collegial MSTP community with a strong sense of mission in the training of physician scientists.  The student-directed  MSTP Council coordinates many activities of the CWRU MSTP. The Council meets once each month to discuss activities that are run by different student committees. The overall goals of the MSTP Council are to identify objectives for the program, to allow students to initiate programs to enhance the MSTP, to encourage increased student involvement in the operation of the MSTP, and to enhance development of leadership skills of MSTP students. The president, vice president, and secretary are all elected for a one-year period. Committees are led by 1-3 committee chairs who take charge of committee activities and coordinate the involvement of other students in the committee activities. All students are welcome and encouraged to participate in the various committees and to attend the council meetings. Recent Council committees and other program activities have included the following:

1.      Monthly Dinner Meeting Committee

This committee is responsible for planning monthly dinner meetings, selecting topics, speakers, and menus. The series is organized by students and is attended by students, Steering Committee members, and research mentors. Invited speakers (students, faculty, alumni and outside speakers) address issues pertinent to research, professional issues, career development or other topics of interest. The informal environment at these gatherings promotes social and professional interactions.

2.     Communications and Webpage Committee

This committee organizes communications and the CWRU MSTP website content.

3.     Summer Retreat Committee

This committee plans the summer retreat.

4.      M1 bonding

This committee organizes events for first year MSTP students, to integrate them into the program and the community.  

5.      Community Service Committee

Plans events for involvement of MSTP students in community service.

6.      Social Committee

This important committee plans fun events throughout the year!

7.     Student Representative to Faculty Council

One student is selected to represent the MSTP on Faculty Council.

8.      Student Representative to the Committee on Medical Education

One student is selected to represent the MSTP at the monthly School of Medicine CME meetings

9.      Representative to the Graduate Student Senate

10.    MSTP Women’s Committee

Women in the MSTP organize luncheons or other meetings to discuss issues that face women pursuing careers in science. Students may invite a successful woman scientist who provides a role model as a physician scientist.

11.   Scientific meetings

The program strongly encourages students to present their research at national or international meetings and provides financial support to pay for part of meeting travel expenses (other funding is obtained from the research mentor). In addition to the general meeting support for all students, each year two students are offered the opportunity to attend the annual MD/PhD national student conference in Colorado or the American Physician Scientist Association annual meeting in Chicago, with all expenses paid by the MSTP.

12.   Research symposia

MSTP students are encouraged to present their research at CWRU student symposia, including the annual Graduate Student Symposium and the Irwin H. Lepow Student Research Day. These symposia feature a nationally recognized keynote speaker, and students have the opportunity to interact extensively with the noted scientist. A committee awards prizes for outstanding student presentations.

13.    Summer retreat  

The annual MSTP summer retreat is a two-day event focusing on scientific presentations, professional development and program planning for the upcoming academic year.

14.  Works in Progress Seminar Series  

Students in their research years present their thesis work to the department through an oral presentation.

Assessment of MSTP Students

Students in the MSTP are assessed for the medical school component of the program in the same manner as students in the University Program, with the exception that grades are awarded for those courses in the MD curriculum in years one and two that receive graduate school credit and are used to satisfy requirements for the PhD degree. Students must satisfactorily complete all requirements for both the MD and the PhD.

Program Requirements

Mstp program by year.

• University Program MD curriculum
• Summer Intro to MSTP course
• One graduate course or research rotation each semester (fall and spring)
• Summer research rotations (1 or 2)
• Graduate course or research rotation in the fall semester
• PhD program
• MSTP Clinical Tutorial
• Optional MSTP Clinical Tutorial

Year 6 (If Needed)

• All PhD work, including dissertation defense and publications, to be completed before starting the 3rd year MD curriculum
• Third year MD curriculum (core clinical clerkships)
• Fourth year MD curriculum (completion of core clinical clerkships if necessary, clinical and research electives)

General Description

The Case Western Reserve University Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) provides training for future physician-scientists by integrating well-developed curricula in science and medicine. Unique aspects of the program include the integration of graduate school and medical school in many phases of the program to optimize dual-degree training and a high degree of student involvement in running the program.

The MSTP includes three major phases of training.

First phase : During the first two years, each student completes the first two years of the University Program medical school curriculum, including early clinical experiences, completes at least three research rotations, takes graduate courses, and chooses his or her PhD graduate program and thesis lab. During the summer between the first two years of medical school, students complete one or two research rotations. During the fall and spring semesters of year one and the fall semester of year two, students take a graduate course or complete a research rotation.

Second phase : During the PhD phase, students complete all requirements of their PhD program. They also participate in the MSTP Clinical Tutorial for at least one year in a patient-based clinical specialty. A second year of MSTP Clinical Tutorial is optional.

Third phase : In the final phase, students complete years three and four of the University Program medical school curriculum. The focus is clinical training, but research electives can be taken for part of year four.

Although each of these three phases has a different focus, opportunities exist for students to pursue both research and clinical training in each phase. The philosophy of the Case MSTP is to integrate medicine and science throughout the program as much as possible.

The CWRU MSTP is run by faculty, staff, and students. The MSTP Council is a body of students that plans and runs certain aspects of the program. The administrative director, program coordinator, and program assistant have many important roles and run the day-to-day management of the program.   The associate directors are involved in decisions at all levels of the program and are the primary advisors for students in the first two years of the program. The clinical associate director is responsible for the clinical activities in the MSTP program. The director is responsible for all aspects of the program, is a primary advisor for students in the first two years of the program, and is available to students for advice at any stage. The MSTP Steering Committee makes decisions on MSTP policy, curriculum planning, student admissions, approval of mentors and evaluation of students.

Incoming MSTP students are expected to enter the program on or about July 1. The MSTP summer retreat, usually held in early July, provides an important orientation to the program and includes sessions and workshops for program and professional development.

Advising System

The program director provides advising to students in all phases of the program. The MSTP has a team of associate directors who advise students in the first two years on research rotations and course work. Students may also meet with an MSTP Steering Committee member representing an area of research interest or with the MSTP director. During the PhD training period, mentoring is provided by the thesis advisor and thesis committee, which includes a member of the MSTP Steering Committee and a member with an MD degree. MSTP students are full members of the medical school class and enter one of the four academic societies of the University Program when they matriculate in the program. The society dean provides important advice on matters concerning the MD curriculum.

Classes and Research Rotations in Years One and Two

During years one and two of the University Program, MSTP students register for 9 credit hours of graduate course work each semester.

IBIS 401 , IBIS 402 and IBIS 403 are 4 credits each.   IBIS 411 , IBIS 412 , and IBIS 413 are 2 credit hours each.  In contrast to their  fellow medical students, MSTP students are graded during years one and two of the medical school curriculum for these graduate courses, which provide graduate school credit for the medical school curriculum. These grades are for graduate school purposes and do not affect standing in the medical school.

In addition to the medical curriculum, students take MSTP 400   or one 3-4 credit graduate school course per semester in the first two years. Graduate courses are scheduled in the afternoon in the fall and spring semesters to avoid conflict with the medical school curriculum. MSTP students will be registered for MSTP 400   during the summer terms before each of the first two years of medical school. Students also may complete a research rotation instead of a graduate school course during the fall or spring semester.

The PhD Phase

After completion of the second year of medical school, each student chooses a PhD thesis mentor, joins a specific PhD program, and completes any remaining graduate school course work and other requirements for the PhD degree. The following training programs are affiliated with the MSTP. (If the training program is not itself an independent PhD program, the program through which it is offered is indicated in parentheses.)

• Biochemistry
• Biomedical & Health Informatics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cancer Biology (Pathology)
• Cell Biology
• Clinical Translational Science
• Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Genetics and Genome Sciences
• Immunology (Pathology)
• Molecular Biology and Microbiology
• Molecular Virology
• Neurosciences
• Pathology (Molecular and Cellular Basis of Disease)
• Pharmacology
• Physiology and Biophysics
• Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

All MSTP students are required to take  IBMS 450  and  IBMS 500  during the spring semester of their third year in the program.  The SOM requires that MSTP students who are preparing to re-enter medical school, register for IBMS 501.

Clinical Tutorial, Clinical Refresher Course and Years Three and Four of Medical School

During the PhD thesis phase, MSTP students take the MSTP Clinical Tutorial, which provides a unique longitudinal part-time clinical experience. The MSTP Clinical Tutorial is a year-long course that enhances clinical skills for year three of medical school. It also serves a special career development objective by allowing students to balance medical and scientific interests and explore the connections between these areas. The MSTP Clinical Tutorial, offered during the PhD phase, is an example of the integration of science and medicine in the CWRU MSTP. An optional MSTP Clinical Refresher course may be taken before the start of year three. After completion of the PhD, MSTP students are enrolled in medical school to complete the requirements for the MD ( see description provided for the University Program ).

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MD-PhD Degree Programs by State

New section.

Combined MD-PhD degree programs provide students the opportunity to earn both the MD and the PhD in areas pertinent to medicine.

Combined MD-PhD degree programs provide students the opportunity to earn both the MD and the PhD in areas pertinent to medicine. Below is a list of schools offering a combined MD-PhD degree, with links to their web sites. Please contact the institutions directly for curriculum information and admission requirements. School administrators may contact [email protected]  with any omissions or corrections to this listing.

University of Alabama School of Medicine Birmingham, Ala.

University of South Alabama College of Medicine   Mobile, Ala.

University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, Ariz.

University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix Phoenix, Ariz.

University of Arkansas College of Medicine Little Rock, Ark.

Loma Linda University School of Medicine   Loma Linda, Calif.

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, Calif.

University of California, Davis School of Medicine   Davis, Calif.

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine   Irvine, Calif.

University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine   Los Angeles, Calif.

University of California, San Diego School of Medicine   La Jolla, Calif.

University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine   San Francisco, Calif.

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California   Los Angeles, Calif.

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center   Denver, Colo.

Connecticut

University of Connecticut School of Medicine   Farmington, Conn.

Yale University School of Medicine   New Haven, Conn.

District of Columbia

Georgetown University School of Medicine   Washington, D.C.

Howard University College of Medicine   Washington, D.C.

University of Florida College of Medicine   Gainesville, Fla.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine   Miami, Fla.

University of South Florida College of Medicine   Tampa, Fla.

Emory University School of Medicine   Atlanta, Ga.

Medical College of Georgia   Augusta, Ga.

Morehouse School of Medicine   Atlanta, Ga.

Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University Augusta, Ga.

Loyola University of Chicago - Stritch School of Medicine   Maywood, Ill.

Northwestern University Medical School   Chicago, Ill.

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - Chicago Medical School   North Chicago, Ill.

University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (MTSP)  Chicago, Ill.

University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (MD/PhD) Chicago, Ill.

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine   Chicago, Ill.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Carle Illinois College of Medicine   Urbana, Ill.

Indiana University School of Medicine   Indianapolis, Ind.

University of Iowa College of Medicine   Iowa City, Iowa

University of Kansas School of Medicine   Kansas City, Kan.

University of Kentucky College of Medicine   Lexington, Ky.

University of Louisville School of Medicine   Louisville, Ky.

Louisiana State University, New Orleans School of Medicine   New Orleans, La.

Louisiana State University, Shreveport School of Medicine   Shreveport, La.

Tulane University School of Medicine   New Orleans, La.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine   Baltimore, Md.

National Institutes of Health Intramural MD-PhD Partnership   Bethesda, Md.

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences   Bethesda, Md.

University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Medicine   Baltimore, Md.

Massachusetts

Boston University School of Medicine   Boston, Mass.

Harvard Medical School   Boston, Mass.

Tufts University School of Medicine   Boston, Mass.

University of Massachusetts Medical School   Worcester, Mass.

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine   East Lansing, Mich.

University of Michigan Medical School   Ann Arbor, Mich.

Wayne State University School of Medicine   Detroit, Mich.

Mayo Medical School  Rochester, Minn.

University of Minnesota Medical School   Minneapolis, Minn.

Mississippi

University of Mississippi School of Medicine   Jackson, Miss.

Saint Louis University School of Medicine   St. Louis, Mo.

University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine   Columbia, Mo.

University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine   Kansas City, Mo.

Washington University School of Medicine   St. Louis, Mo.

Creighton University School of Medicine   Omaha, Neb.

University of Nebraska College of Medicine   Omaha, Neb.

University of Nevada School of Medicine   Reno, Nev.

New Hampshire

Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth   Hanover, N.H.

Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School   Newark, N.J.

Rutgers - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School   Piscataway, N.J.

University of New Mexico School of Medicine   Albuquerque, N.M.

Albany Medical College   Albany, N.Y.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University   Bronx, N.Y.

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons   New York, N.Y.

Hofstra North Shore - LIJ School of Medicine Hempstead, N.Y.

Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional MD/PhD Program   New York, N.Y.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine   New York, N.Y.

New York Medical College   Valhalla, N.Y.

New York University School of Medicine   New York, N.Y.

SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine   Buffalo, N.Y.

SUNY at Stony Brook Health Sciences Center   Stony Brook, N.Y.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine   Brooklyn, N.Y.

SUNY Upstate Medical University   Syracuse, N.Y.

University of Rochester School of Medicine   Rochester, N.Y.

North Carolina

Wake Forest School of Medicine   Winston-Salem, N.C.

Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University   Greenville, N.C.

Duke University School of Medicine   Durham, N.C.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine   Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Dakota

University of North Dakota School of Medicine   Grand Forks, N.D.

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine   Cleveland, Ohio

Northeastern Ohio College of Medicine   Rootstown, Ohio

Ohio State University College of Medicine   Columbus, Ohio

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine   Cincinnati, Ohio

University of Toledo College of Medicine   Toledo, Ohio

Wright State University School of Medicine   Dayton, Ohio

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center   Oklahoma City, Okla.

Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine   Portland, Ore.

Pennsylvania

Drexel University College of Medicine   Philadelphia, Pa.

Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University   Philadelphia, Pa.

Penn State University College of Medicine   Hershey, Pa.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine   Philadelphia, Pa.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine   Pittsburgh, Pa.

Temple University School of Medicine   Philadelphia, Pa.

Rhode Island

Brown University School of Medicine   Providence, R.I.

South Carolina

Medical University of South Carolina  Charleston, S.C.

University of South Carolina School of Medicine   Columbia, S.C.

South Dakota

University of South Dakota School of Medicine   Vermillion, S.D.

East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine   Johnson City, Tenn.

Meharry Medical College School of Medicine   Nashville, Tenn.

University of Tennessee, Memphis College of Medicine   Memphis, Tenn.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine   Nashville, Tenn.

Baylor College of Medicine   Houston, Texas

McGovern Medical School at UTHealth/MD Anderson Cancer Center/University of Puerto Rico Tri-Institutional Program   Houston, Texas

Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center College of Medicine College   Station, Texas

Texas Tech University School of Medicine   Lubbock, Texas

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston   Galveston, Texas

University of Texas Health San Antonio, Long School of Medicine   San Antonio, Texas

University of Texas, Southwestern Med Center - Dallas   Dallas, Texas

University of Utah School of Medicine   Salt Lake City, Utah

University of Vermont College of Medicine   Burlington, Vt.

Eastern Virginia Medical School   Norfolk, Va.

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine   Richmond, Va.

University of Virginia School of Medicine   Charlottesville, Va.

University of Washington School of Medicine   Seattle, Wash.

West Virginia

Marshall University School of Medicine   Huntington, W.Va.

West Virginia University School of Medicine   Morgantown, W.Va.

Medical College of Wisconsin   Milwaukee, Wisc.

University of Wisconsin Medical School   Madison, Wisc.

McGill University Faculty of Medicine   Montreal, Quebec

McMaster University of Faculty of Health Sciences   Hamilton, Ontario

Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty of Medicine   St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Universite de Montreal Faculte de Medecine   Montreal, Quebec

Universite de Sherbrooke Faculte de Medecine   Sherbrooke, Quebec

Universite Laval Faculte de Medecine   Quebec, Quebec

University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry   Edmonton, Alberta

University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine   Calgary, Alberta

University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine   Vancouver, British Columbia

University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine   Winnipeg, Manitoba

University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine   Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine   Toronto, Ontario

University of Western Ontario   London, Ontario

Related Programs

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How to Get into an MD/PhD Program

MD-PhD Programs: How to get in (2021-2022)

Are you passionate about medicine and research? If so, you should consider pursuing an MD-PhD program. These rigorous programs prepare students who excel in these areas to become physician scientists.

Only about 600 students enter MD-PhD programs each year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) — a far smaller number than tens of thousands who matriculate at medical schools. But that doesn’t mean these programs are any less selective or prestigious than medical school.

Are you considering applying to an MD-Phd program? Here’s what you should know and how to prepare.

Table of Contents

What are MD-PhD programs?

MD-PhD programs give students a grounding in both clinical training in medicine and research. After successfully completing your program, you will earn both degrees. 

Like many dual-degree programs, this is an extremely rigorous and challenging route to take. You will need to complete the requirements associated with both degrees, including writing a dissertation and treating patients.

How Long Do These Programs Take to Complete?

Most MD-PhD programs take around 7-8 years to complete, although some students do it in a longer or shorter period of time. After completing the program, you will need to train and prepare for work in your field, which takes another several years — the length of time varies based on your specialty.

What is the Typical Structure of an MD-PhD Program?

While there can be some slight variations in the exact structure of an MD-PhD program, the basic structure is listed below:

• Years 1 and 2: Take basic science classes with your entering medical school class
• Years 3, 4, 5, and 6: Complete PhD research
• Years 7 and 8: Complete years three and four of medical school which are your clinical rotations

What Are Medical Scientist Training Programs?

Funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP) describe MD-PhD programs that come with special benefits, including full tuition coverage and stipends for housing and living. These programs are highly competitive but extremely rewarding, and students enjoy additional career-development opportunities like conferences, mentorship, and additional resources.

Related Article: Medical School Acceptance Rates, Admission Statistics + Average MCAT and GPA for every Medical School

How competitive are md-phd versus md-only programs.

Getting into MD-PhD programs is more difficult than getting into MD-only programs. Why? With MD-PhD programs, you need to get “accepted” by both the MD portion of the program and the PhD portion of the program. So, not only do you have to meet criteria for both, but the process is often longer and more drawn out. Everyone once in a while a student approaches us thinking applying for MD-PhD will help improve chances of admission and this is the opposite of the truth!

Let’s review the data:

• MCAT and GPA: In 2020-2021, the average GPA for MD-PhD matriculants was 3.8 and the average MCAT was 516.2 .  Compare this to the average GPA and MCAT of medical school matriculants: 3.73 and 511.5 .
• Acceptance Rate: There were a total of 701 MD-PhD matriculants of 1855 applicants for an acceptance rate of 37.7% . Compare this to an MD-only acceptance rate of 41.9%

Are There Alternatives to MD-PhD Programs?

The primary alternative to an MD-PhD program is to take a gap year or two during medical school to pursue research in the specialty you hope to pursue. In fact, for more competitive residencies and specialties, this is becoming increasingly more common as having valuable research experience is important for the most competitive specialties in medicine. Keep in mind that one or two years of research will not earn you an additional degree like a formal MD-PhD will so choose the option that is best aligned with your future goals.

Tips for Applying

Understand the differences in the application process..

MD-PhD applicants follow a similar process as MD applicants do. They generally submit applications through the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). However, students must declare their intention to apply as MD-PhD candidates and complete two additional essays as part of the application. Make sure you complete the essays quickly but thoughtfully.

Bolster Your Academic Credentials.

In the 2020–2021 , there were 1,825 MD-PhD applicants to MD-PhD programs, and 701 students ended up matriculating. While this admissions rate is on par with that of MD programs, arguably, MD-PhD programs are more self-selective, meaning only students who are truly passionate about this career path tend to apply, and that number is significantly smaller than those who aspire to be physicians. Moreover, there are far fewer of these programs available.

That means you will need to have a high GPA and MCAT score . You may need to retake the MCAT and bolster your GPA by adding additional courses if they aren’t quite there.

Have a Strong Resume with Impressive Research Experience.

Because these programs emphasize research, you will need to demonstrate plenty of research experience when you apply. Seek out opportunities to work in labs, with professors, as an intern, and so on. Aim to be listed as an author on several publications — this will make you that much more competitive candidate.

Not having stellar research experience is one of the primary reasons we advise students not to apply ot MD-PhD programs and instead to apply only to MD programs.

Consider Applying to MD-only Programs Simultaneously.

You’ll improve your chances of being admitted to at least one program if you also apply for medical schools simultaneously. You can even be considered as an MD-only candidate at schools where you’re not admitted as an MD-PhD program. Just mark this on your application.

MD-PhD AMCAS Essay Prompts and Character Limits:

Md-phd essay.

If you are applying to an MD-PhD program(s), you are required to provide two additional essays, the MD-PhD Essay and the Significant Research Experience Essay. Use the MD-PhD Essay to state your reasons for pursuing the combined MD-PhD degree. Your response will be forwarded only to your designated MD-PhD program(s). This essay is limited to 3,000 characters.

Below this essay, you’ll be asked to enter your total hours of research experience.

Significant Research Experience Essay

In addition to the MD-PhD Essay, you are required to write an essay that describes your significant research experiences. In this essay, please specify your research supervisor’s name and affiliation, the duration of the experience, the nature of the problem studied, and your contributions to the research effort. The essay is limited to 10,000 characters.

If your research resulted in a publication on which you were an author, please enter the full citation in the Work/Activities section of your application

What to Focus on in Your Essays

Keep in mind that your two additional MD-PhD essays will be considered together with your AMCAS medical school personal statement and work and activities . These two additional essays should be straightforward and direct. 

This is not the place to get creative. Instead, express why you want to pursue an MD-PhD: What are your research interests and how and why would an MD-PhD allow you to reach your goals? Why do you want to merge a career in clinical medicine and research? What are your future goals?

We suggest asking a principal investigator or mentor to review your significant research experience essay to make sure it includes the necessary details about your research.

Where Do Graduates Work?

Physician scientists have many career paths available to them. After completing their residencies, they can go onto work at teaching hospitals, medical schools, independent research labs, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and more

Remember, too, that graduates can rely on one degree over another or apply them both to their work. Ultimately, there are numerous options to explore.

List of MD-PhD Programs in the US (*NIH-Funded Programs)

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A Compelling New Lupus Discovery with Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD

Northwestern Medicine physician-scientist Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD joins the show again to discuss another breakthrough in T-cell research. This time for lupus, a chronic autoimmune condition affecting 300,000 Americans that can cause inflammation in many body parts, including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. Findings by Choi and his lab members not only elucidate the underlying mechanisms of lupus but also suggest potential therapeutic strategies.

  “We were able to use this approach to identify what we think is one of the root causes of lupus. And so we've identified that their T-cells are not right, they're not normal and in fact they're disease-causing, and we think that by understanding the root mechanisms by which these T-cells become disease-causing in lupus, we can identify ways to actually cure the disease.”  

- Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD

• Jack W. Graffin Professor  
• Associate Professor of Dermatology in the Division of Medical Dermatology  
• Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics  
• Member of Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute  
• Member of Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center  

Episode Notes 

Choi and his collaborators are researching the possibility of innovative T-cell therapies with the hope of reprogramming disease-causing cells that cause lupus and other autoimmune diseases.  

• Choi’s team recently utilized findings from patients with T-cell lymphomas to discover ways to steal the superpowers in the lymphomas to supercharge T-cell therapies for cancer.   
• Using this same approach, investigators have been investigating lupus, an incurable autoimmune disease affecting over 300,000 Americans, with the hope of identifying the root cause of the disease.   
• Choi and his collaborator, Dr. Deepak Rao of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, played basketball together in medical school, and always dreamed of identifying a cure for autoimmune diseases.   
• From studying lupus patients, investigators found imbalanced chemicals in the blood that cause a rise of T-cells which promote the production of antibodies, a critical aspect of lupus.   
• By restoring an imbalance of a molecule called Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands in patients' blood, Choi believes it is possible to reprogram disease-causing T-cells into non-pathogenic cells, potentially curing lupus.  
• Using a 'seesaw' analogy, Choi explains the inverse relationship between B helper T-cells and wound healing cells. Reducing the pathogenic B helper T-cells in lupus patients can naturally increase wound healing cells, potentially leading to tissue repair.  
• In similar cases of autoimmune disease, efforts are typically made to broadly suppress the immune system. But Choi says there is a way to target the cells that are causing lupus and “flipping their identity” from bad to good cells.   
• Choi hopes that one day soon this breakthrough discovery could not only cure lupus but even reverse the damage that’s already occurred in patients.   
• Choi believes they can utilize the same “roadmap” from their lupus investigations and apply it to other autoimmune or inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Similarly, the goal would be to reprogram cells that are causing disease, helping them to actually repair the conditions that they're causing.   

Additional Reading   

• Listen to a previous episode of the show with Choi: Strengthening T-Cell Therapy for Solid Tumor Cancers with Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD  
• Find out more about Choi’s collaborator, Deepak Rao, MD, PhD  
• Link to published paper  

 Recorded on May 29, 2024.

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Academic/Research, Multiple specialties

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At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Identify the research interests and initiatives of Feinberg faculty.
• Discuss new updates in clinical and translational research.

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The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

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The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine designates this Enduring Material for a maximum of 0.50  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

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Successful completion of this CME activity enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME requirement(s) of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.

CME Credit Opportunity Coming Soon

Choi has affiliations with and financial interests in Moonlight Bio. Northwestern University has financial interests (equity, royalties) in Moonlight Bio.

Read the Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Erin Spain, MS: This is Breakthroughs, a podcast from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. I'm Erin Spain, host of the show. In a recent episode of this show, we spoke with Northwestern Medicine physician, Dr. Jae Choi, about how a gene mutation found in T-cells of patients with lymphoma could hold the key to potent cancer fighting immunotherapy for solid tumor cancers. Today we welcome Dr. Choi back to the show to talk about another breakthrough in T-cell research and the fight against lupus, a chronic auto-immune condition affecting 300,000 Americans that can cause inflammation in many body parts, including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. These findings not only elucidate the underlying mechanisms of lupus, but also suggest potential therapeutic strategies. Here with details is Dr. Choi. Welcome back to the show.  

[00:01:11] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: Thank you for having me, Erin.  

[00:01:12] Erin Spain, MS: Let's refresh our listeners' memories a little bit. You are a cancer researcher, specifically, you have an interest in skin cancer and skin immunology, but today we are talking about lupus. This is not a condition that you typically study. Tell us a bit about your background and what led you to lupus.  

[00:01:32] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: That's right. So, it turns out that one of the most important aspects of both cancer and the skin are actually the immune system. And one of the major drivers of the immune system is a cell called the T-cell. And it turns out that this T-cell has very similar attributes in many different types of diseases, including both cancer and autoimmune disease. And so it actually turned out to be a natural offshoot of the work that we had been doing. We study human patients and we try to find out what are the molecular aberrations or changes that occur in human patients. And so our thought is that once we identify them, we can then utilize them for multiple purposes. So we recently utilized findings from patients with T-cell lymphomas to really discover ways to steal the superpowers in the lymphomas to supercharge T-cell therapies for cancer. We use the same approach from patients with lupus and autoimmune disease. It turns out they have all the same cells and all the same technologies will work. And we were able to use this approach to identify the root cause of what we think is one of the root causes of lupus. And so we've identified that their T-cells are not right, they're not normal and in fact they're disease-causing, and we think that by understanding the root mechanisms by which these T-cells become disease-causing in lupus, we can identify, you know, ways to actually cure the disease.  

[00:02:52] Erin Spain, MS: Was there a particular reason you chose to investigate lupus to use the same approach as you used with your T-cell lymphoma research?  

[00:03:01] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: We wanted to study lupus because it's a debilitating, incurable condition that affects over 300,000 Americans. We don't have really good ways to treat the root cause of lupus, and that's why we don't have any cures for lupus. All the treatments are in fact treatments, which are just ways to make the side effects of lupus better. And these drugs actually broadly affect the immune system. And therefore we know that they not only suppress lupus T-cells, but they also suppress your T-cells to other possible diseases like COVID-19, pneumonia or infections. And so the net result is that these treatments can actually be extremely dangerous for patients if taken for too long and in the wrong situations. It affects not only the blood, but also the skin, the joints, the brain, the lungs, and as well as the heart. We've made a lot of progress in the last few years, but because it's incurable, patients still die from lupus at an unacceptable rate.  

[00:03:59] Erin Spain, MS: And tell me about the team that you've assembled to look into this, who are the experts in autoimmune diseases and lupus who are on the research team?  

[00:04:08] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: My collaborator in this case is Deepak Rao, who's an assistant professor at Brigham Women's Hospital, which is one of the hospitals associated with Harvard Medical School. He is an active participant in their autoimmune network called Accelerating Medicines Partnership, and also one of the leaders of the Human Immunology Center at Brigham. It turns out he and I used to play basketball together when we were in medical school, and we had this dream of partnering together to actually cure autoimmune diseases, diseases that he sees in his patients in his clinic. He's a rheumatologist where we can use the technologies we've developed to study T-cells and be able to deploy them in this very important clinical need. Our student, Calvin Law, is actually the first PhD student in my lab. Jay Daniels was the MD, PhD student who really pioneered the other work, and it's just been remarkable to see him grow from a junior scientist to really a mature researcher who's also equally committed to being able to cure autoimmune disease.  

[00:05:01] Erin Spain, MS: And the paper that we're discussing today, published in Nature. You mentioned you found the disease-causing cells in lupus. Tell me a little bit more about that. What did you find?  

[00:05:11] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: Sure. So, let me first start off with an analogy. So I think a lot of times we know lupus affects the skin, the brain, the lungs, and the heart. And oftentimes we actually study what caused the symptoms of the disease. And so I make the analogy for like landscaping. If you're looking at a weed, we often deal with what we see on the surface, and that's what we've been studying. But what we think we found is a fundamental root cause of lupus, which is kind of the root of the weed, and we think that by actually taking out the root, we can actually potentially cure lupus. That's why we're really excited about this. And so from patients, we found that there are chemicals that are imbalanced in their blood that causes the rise of these T-cells that actually promote the production of antibodies, which are a critical aspect of lupus. It turns out if you have lupus, you have much higher levels of these T-cells than people who are healthy. And that these T-cells seem to be chronically activated driving the production of these antibodies against yourself that lead to disease and correlate with disease activity. So our approach here has been different than what people have done before, which has been to try to treat the effects of lupus in the kidney or the skin. We wanna reprogram the cells that are actually causing the lupus. Turn them from bad guys into good guys. And so, what we found was that there was a molecule that was deficient in the blood of patients with lupus. It's called Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) Ligands. Normally these molecules are produced by bacteria in the gut, but also can be things that you're exposed to in the body from the outside in the environment, chemicals in water, et cetera. For many reasons, we found that patients with lupus have an imbalance of cytokines like interferon that suppress this Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor pathway. We then found that this Aryl hydrocarbon receptor, when suppressed, actually promote the production of cells that are pathogenic lupus, these B helper T-cells, these TPH cells, and because we think we found the root cause of why patients with lupus have an abnormal abundance of this disease causing T-cells, we hypothesized that we could correct it by restoring the chemical imbalance in patients. And so we've done these studies with blood cells from patients with lupus, provided back the Aryl Hydrocarbon receptor ligands and show that we can suppress their ability to make pathogenic antibodies. And so we think that this is a possibility of not only reducing the disease-causing T-cells, but actually reprogramming them to be a potentially good cell.  

[00:07:41] Erin Spain, MS: Tell me more about these cells. In the paper you said that these cells are in a seesaw-like balance between disease causing and wound healing. Can you tell me more about that?  

[00:07:51] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: So these cells are called T peripheral helper cells, or B helper T-cells. They're highly elevated in patients with autoimmune disease, including lupus. And they're much higher in lupus patients than in healthy people. In healthy people, in contrast, you have much higher levels of these cells CD96 positive TH22 cells that are thought to be critical for wound healing in tissues. We knew we wanted to target the B helper T-cells. But what was unexpected were that these cells actually live in a seesaw with these wound healing cells. And so we think in normal people and in patients with lupus, you have these B helper T-cells and these wound healing cells actually living in a seesaw. When you have a lot of wound healing cells, that helps you to be healthy. And it seems to be associated with a lack of autoimmune disease. And then when you have autoimmune disease, you have a really high number of these B helper T-cells, and a low number of these wound healing cells. And so in general, it may be useful to reprogram T-cells across many different things, but we thought we could take advantage of this naturally occurring seesaw and be able to really push down the B helper T-cells, which would naturally push up their likelihood of becoming these wound healing cells. And so by doing this, we think we can leverage what nature already does in people to help prevent this autoimmune disease. And the added benefit is because they're wound healing at the sites of lupus associated injury, like the kidneys, the lungs, et cetera. We think that they could actually have a disproportionate outsize wound healing effect in the areas of lupus damage.  

[00:09:22] Erin Spain, MS: These are truly breakthrough discoveries. Explain to me just how unprecedented these findings are and what it could mean for advancement in the field.  

[00:09:30] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: I think what's really attractive is when we find a molecular mechanism that seems to explain the whole thing. And so what we have found is in the blood there seems to be a deficiency in these molecules called aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands, and that this is sufficient to lead to upregulation of these B helper T-cells. And so we have, from soup to nuts, studied the molecules in the cells from patients with lupus, and shown how molecularly these chemicals can actually lead to the changes in the T-cell state, leading to chronic activation of B cells leading to the chronic activation of antibodies. What's been really a tremendous discovery is that we can bring back this molecule, rebalance this molecule cytokine in people and that if we do that, especially in lupus cells, we're able to actually turn off their ability to promote lupus antibody production. And so we think that the opportunity here is to not broadly suppress the immune system for patients with autoimmune disease, but to reprogram the cells that are actually causing the disease. And in this case, what's really incredible is the ability not only to prevent them from actually promoting the production of these antibodies, but actually to reprogram them to be a wound healing phenotype, where we're hoping that they can actually lead to repairing the damage that's been caused by lupus in these patients.  

[00:10:47] Erin Spain, MS: That's really incredible. I want to talk about some of the technology that you used to perform this research. It was really a critical part, some of the tools that you used in this investigation. Can you explain that to me?  

[00:10:57] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: Yeah, so we were able to combine just fundamental aspects of T-cell biology, immunology, single cell genetics, single cell transcriptomics, as well as these incredible technologies that give us this idea of what we call the epigenetic state of the cells. And so by using epigenetics, we can see how this one T cell that was born, probably polyfunctional, able to do anything, has actually become hardwired to become lupus promoting. And by utilizing these kinds of molecular mechanisms from the Aryl hydrocarbon receptor all the way through to the disease-causing T-cell state, we think that we're able to find the exact places where we can intervene and reprogram the cells. I think this concept of reprogramming the cells that are causing disease is actually relatively novel. Most people try to either broadly suppress the immune system as we discussed, or they actually try to kill the cells that are actually in patients. But we think there's an advantage of actually targeting the cells that are causing lupus and flipping their identity because they're already in the tissues that are where the disease is being caused. And they're also being chronically activated. So instead of being chronically activated to produce molecules that promote lupus, we're hoping to reprogram them to be chronically activated, to produce molecules that promote wound healing. And I think that this kind of opportunity will be available to us to be able to sort of repair the damage in all the organs where these immune cells are.  

[00:12:22] Erin Spain, MS: So for people who already have the disease, is this something that you're saying could reverse damage that's been done?  

[00:12:29] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: I think it's possible. We really hope so. We don't know for sure, and I think that one of the issues in lupus is that the preclinical models are mostly based on these small mice. You know, we know that mice are not humans, and so, but we think that because our discoveries are made in human T-cells, our hope is that we can translate this directly into humans and predict what will happen to patients.  

[00:12:54] Erin Spain, MS: So what are the next steps at this point? You've proven that this can be done in the lab and the blood samples from people with lupus. Now we're talking about real patients who want to see if this could be successful. So are clinical trials on the horizon?  

[00:13:07] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: We're actively working on this. The key aspect is how do we deliver these chemicals safely and surgically to the cells that we're targeting? And so, our lab and Dr. Rao's lab are actively working on ways to do this. And the goal would be is to produce these molecules, turn them into drugs that can be given worldwide to patients with lupus and other autoimmune diseases. And again, the goal will be not only to treat them, but to potentially cure them of their disease by reprogramming disease causing cells. Our goal is to really make it simple. If we can, we'd like to make it into a pill and that we can then give to people and then they could do better. What we think is these cells only represent a small fraction of the cells in the blood. We just wanna leave the 90 plus percent of the cells that are helping you to defend yourself against cancer and infection intact and unchanged. We only want to target the cells that are causing lupus, and our goal is to do that.  

[00:14:02] Erin Spain, MS: So you said you're actively working on this. So what does that mean? Tell me about this endeavor and I know that there is a startup or a company involved as well. What can you share with us?  

[00:14:12] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: Anything we find in the lab is very difficult to give to patients. And so there has to be an intermediate step where the intellectual property has to be licensed by a company that will be able to make commercial grade drugs that can be given to people throughout the world. So, Dr. Rao and I have focused on finding these technologies and we're actively working on trying to translate this into discoveries that can be put into a startup that would be able to be given to people.  

[00:14:38] Erin Spain, MS: What has the reaction been like in the community, especially people who study lupus? What has the reaction been?  

[00:14:46] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: It's been really outstanding. And as an example my student Calvin Law just presented at the plenary session for the American College of Rheumatology, and it was just really refreshing to see that both clinicians and scientists could be unified in their enthusiasm for a paper that bridges basic science and patient samples. We made one of the first studies into the molecular mechanisms, into these lupus causing T-cells, which was really important. But I think the obvious idea that this is a root cause of the disease and that it could potentially be addressed by chemical matter is something that's really resonated with both the clinicians and the basic scientists.  

[00:15:24] Erin Spain, MS: So when a study like this is published, there is often a lot of press, there's a lot of excitement and people really want to know, well, when can we expect to see this in the clinic? You know, when can my loved one with this disease expect some relief? What would you like to say to those folks who are listening, who are very excited about your research and really can't wait to see this come to fruition?  

[00:15:45] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: So what I would say is that actually many of the therapies that are out there are actually leveraging this particular seesaw that we're talking about. And so you may not be aware, but even if you're taking some of the medications that are prescribed now, like anifrolumab, it seems to be one of the effects of cytokine blockade is rebalancing this seesaw between these B helper lupus causing T-cells and these wound healing T-cells. What I would say is that rest assured that you're receiving the best care possible in the clinic, but that there are many medications that are actually in development that may be actually leveraging unintentionally the seesaw between the bad helper T-cells and the good helper T-cells. So I think that those would be in the clinic and be available to you very soon. And then what we wanna do in our lab is to be able to really develop next generation potential cures. Our hope is that this will come to the clinic within a few years.  

[00:16:38] Erin Spain, MS: Now we're talking about lupus today, but there are many autoimmune conditions out there that are really debilitating and not a lot of great treatments. Could you see this idea, this platform, this way of flipping the cells, something that could be done to help other conditions that are autoimmune.  

[00:16:55] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: You know, we've just been so inspired by, just a beauty and intrinsic logic to how nature works and the T-cells follow this logic in incredible ways. And until we have the technology to understand it, we really didn't understand how these diseases are caused. But now that we can see this real thread between blood imbalances into how the cells are programmed, into how they produce the molecules that cause lupus. We think we can take the same kind of roadmap and use this for other autoimmune or inflammatory conditions where our goal is to really reprogram the cells that are causing disease, helping them to actually repair the conditions that they're causing. This could easily be adopted to rheumatoid arthritis, as well as a number of debilitating autoimmune diseases. You know, it turns out that inflammation can actually be the root of many diseases. It's obviously deficient in patients who have cancer. They can't mount the appropriate immune response to the cancer. It may be over-exuberant in patients with autoimmune disease. But we think actually it's altered in many diseases associated with aging, including cardiovascular, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and many other syndromes associated with aging. And so we think that we can apply these very powerful tools to be able to understand the molecular defects that occur across these different diseases. And we can now engineer new solutions for many of them. So our goal is to be able to really broadly identify new solutions for people with a broad suite of inflammatory diseases, which include aging in general.  

[00:18:25] Erin Spain, MS: This idea of team science and it takes a lot of experts and expertise to bring something like this to publication. Can you just talk about that a little bit and just the roles that everyone plays to make a discovery like this happen?  

[00:18:39] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: That's a really great question. Our goal is not to further our lab. Our goal is really to cure diseases and really improve human health. And if you have that kind of ambition, I think what you should think about is how do I assemble the right team to make this happen as quickly as possible? This kind of team science has been really archetype by, you know, getting to the moon with the NASA, the Moonshot projects, obviously the Manhattan Project. If you have a number of people with non-overlapping expertise who are smart and committed to solving these problems, things can go very quickly. And Deepak and I are close friends. We always dreamed of trying to cure autoimmune disease together and we're really gratified this is happening This is a truly 50-50 collaboration with his lab and really synergize our ability to make an impact that hopefully will help patients with these diseases  

[00:19:28] Erin Spain, MS: Well, Dr. Jae Choi, thank you so much for coming on the show and talking about another incredible breakthrough from your lab along with your collaborators. We really appreciate it.  

[00:19:38] Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD: Thank you so much, Erin.  

[00:19:38] Erin Spain, MS: You can listen to shows from the Northwestern Medicine Podcast Network to hear more about the latest developments in medical research, health care, and medical education. Leaders from across specialties speak to topics ranging from basic science to global health to simulation education. Learn more at feinberg.northwestern.edu/podcasts.  

News Center

Scientists discover a cause of lupus and a possible way to reverse it, two cellular defects appear to drive disease in lupus.

Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have discovered a molecular defect that promotes the pathologic immune response in systemic lupus erythematosus (known as lupus) and in a study published in Nature , show that reversing this defect may potentially reverse the disease.

Lupus affects more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. Until this new study, the causes of this disease were unclear. Lupus can result in life-threatening damage to multiple organs including the kidneys, brain and heart. Existing treatments often fail to control the disease, the study authors said, and have unintended side effects of reducing the immune system’s ability to fight infections.

“Up until this point, all therapy for lupus is a blunt instrument. It’s broad immunosuppression,” said co-corresponding author Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD , the Jack W. Graffin Professor, an associate professor of Dermatology and a Northwestern Medicine dermatologist. “By identifying a cause for this disease, we have found a potential cure that will not have the side effects of current therapies.”

“We’ve identified a fundamental imbalance in the immune responses that patients with lupus make, and we’ve defined specific mediators that can correct this imbalance to dampen the pathologic autoimmune response,” said co-corresponding author Deepak Rao, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and co-director of its Center for Cellular Profiling. 

In the study, the scientists reported a new pathway that drives disease in lupus. There are disease-associated changes in multiple molecules in the blood of patients with lupus. Ultimately, these changes lead to insufficient activation of a pathway controlled by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), which regulates cells’ response to environmental pollutants, bacteria or metabolites. Insufficient activation of AHR results in too many disease-promoting immune cells, called the T peripheral helper cells, that promote the production of disease-causing autoantibodies.

To show this discovery can be leveraged for treatments, the investigators returned the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-activating molecules to blood samples from lupus patients. This seemed to reprogram these lupus-causing cells into a cell called a Th22 cell that may promote wound healing from the damage caused by this autoimmune disease.

“We found that if we either activate the AHR pathway with small molecule activators or limit the pathologically excessive interferon in the blood, we can reduce the number of these disease-causing cells,” said Choi, who is also a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center . “If these effects are durable, this may be a potential cure.”

Choi, Rao and colleagues next want to expand their efforts into developing novel treatments for lupus patients. They are now working to find ways to deliver these molecules safely and effectively to people.

Other Northwestern authors are first author Calvin Law; Arundhati Pillai; Brandon Hancock; and Judd Hultquist, PhD , assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases . Brigham and Women’s Hospital authors include Vanessa Sue Wacleche, PhD; Ye Cao, PhD; John Sowerby, PhD; Alice Horisberger, MD; Sabrina Bracero; Ifeoluwakiisi Adejoorin; Eilish Dillon; Daimon Simmons, MD; Elena Massarotti, MD; Karen Costenbader, MD, MPH; Michael Brenner, PhD; and James Lederer, PhD.

The research was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases grants K08 AR072791, P30 AR070253, R01 AR078769 and P30 AR075049; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grants R01 AI176599, P30 AI117943, R01 AI165236 and U54 AI170792; National Cancer Institute grants F31 CA268839 and CA060553, all of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and NIH Director’s New Innovator Grant 1DP2AI136599-01, and grants from Lupus Research Alliance, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Bakewell Foundation, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and American Cancer Society.

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