Welcome From the Director

Welcome to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine MSTP website and greetings from beautiful Cincinnati - the Queen City! 

As you compare programs, you may be asking yourself what is special about this program and about Cincinnati. Our MSTP is a unique partnership between the UC College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), and this partnership offers unique opportunities that distinguish us from other programs. In our program, students are immersed in an environment where basic science and clinical medicine are tightly integrated to address key questions about the origins of disease.

The College of Medicine was founded by Dr. Daniel Drake in 1819 in Cincinnati and was the first medical school west of the Alleghenies. Dr. Drake originated the academic health center concept of a single organization encompassing a medical school, allied health professional colleges, and teaching hospitals. 

The University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center and the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital are the two major teaching institutions for adult medicine in the region. Combined they have more than 700 beds. The UC Academic Health Center is closely aligned with the College of Medicine, the Winkle College of Pharmacy, and the College of Nursing. 

The College of Medicine is home to several outstanding research programs including, but not limited to, Environmental Health, Cancer Biology, Systems Biology, Neurosciences and Psychiatry, Structural Biology, Metabolic Diseases, and Liver Diseases.

CCHMC is a 523-bed, non-profit children's hospital that is one of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation by US News and World Report, receiving top rankings in all 10 specialties evaluated. CCHMC was ranked the #1 Pediatric Hospital in the nation among Honor Roll hospitals in the U.S. News and World Report 2023-2024 Best Children’s Hospitals.  In addition to its outstanding clinical care, CCHMC is highly committed to research and education. 

The Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, the medical center's research arm, was founded in 1931 through an endowment, which is now over $1.3 billion dollars. CCRF is the nation's second largest recipient of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health. 

Our training environment is highly unique and enables the training of a generation of physician scientists who are surrounded by faculty who are actively engaged and balancing cutting edge research and innovative clinical programs. 

The goal of improving child health through cutting edge research permeates every inch of the institution. CCHMC has over 1.4 million square feet of research laboratory space, with the recent addition of the Clinical Sciences Pavilion – a 15-story, 445,000-square-foot research tower, devoted to translational, clinical and outcomes research.

Additional innovative features of our program include the patient-centered medical school curriculum that fully integrates clinical and scientific principles and senior physician scientist mentoring program that provides one on one mentoring to each student through the entire program. 

The single greatest strength of our program is our student body; our students are a culturally, racially and geographically diverse group who are involved in every aspect of our program. Our program was recently reviewed by the National Institutes of Health and our designation as a Medical Scientist Training Program was recently renewed for an additional five years. 

The mission of the MSTP is to train future leaders in medicine and science. Our graduates have fulfilled this promise. They hold leadership positions at the top institutions across the country. 

As an MSTP graduate myself, I understand fully both the rewards and the challenges of this career. It is not an easy path, but the benefits are infinite. I have never regretted my decision to pursue this path of training.

Enjoy our website and please contact our office if you have questions. We would be happy to put you in touch with a current student to offer some insights about our program. 

We look forward to seeing you in Cincinnati, home to two major sports teams - Bengals and Reds; the Flying Pig Marathon; a vibrant arts and theatre scene, the Cincinnati symphony, opera and ballet; historic architecture; and beautiful parks, including the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail.

Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD
Director, Medical Scientist Training Program
UCCOM/CCHMC