Graduate Programs

Pathobiology Training Program

Understanding the pathologic basis of disease is of fundamental importance in training the next generation of biomedical scientists, whether they work on basic biological problems or in translational areas.

Never before has there been so much potential for discoveries made at the basic research bench to be fruitfully translated to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human disease. Ironically, however, the explosive growth of basic biological knowledge has been accompanied by an equally aggressive trend toward specialization. The all-too-frequent accompaniment to this increasing specialization is narrowness of vision, a worrisome decrement in the ability of students (and graduates) to view their work in the context of the basic biology of their chosen model organism—not to mention the larger biomedical picture.

The Pathobiology graduate training program is devised to solve this problem and to bridge the increasing divide between the bench and the bedside at both the student and faculty levels. The Graduate Training Program in Pathobiology provides Ph.D. students with a foundation of basic medical concepts that will empower them to pursue translational research projects and lend a valuable biological perspective to those who choose to work on basic research topics. To this end, our program provides carefully selected, relevant medical knowledge interwoven with a modern molecular biology graduate curriculum. Importantly, the program also prepares students to work with clinical collaborators as members of research teams, and it fosters interactions between clinicians and scientists who historically have had little formal opportunity to traverse the boundaries between clinic and lab. These interactions have graduate students as their centerpiece, and we believe this will tremendously enrich their education.

Our program promotes this understanding through:

1. A new pathobiology curriculum carefully designed to present an integrated view of pathogenesis at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ system, and organismal levels;

2. targeted clinical experiences guided by practicing pathologists and research-oriented physicians; and

3. co-mentorship of dissertation projects by a relevant clinician as well as the student's principal advisor.

Pathobiology courses are open to residents, fellows, MD/PhD students, and other graduate students, further enriching the intellectual environment. The clinical rotations and co-mentoring train the students in a collaborative, team-oriented research setting that helps prepare them for what we believe will become a dominant paradigm in biological research over the next decade.

Although it is interdisciplinary, the heart of this program lies in the faculty and resources of the Department of Pathology. As the largest basic science department at the NYU School of Medicine, the Department of Pathology provides primary appointments to more than 80 full-time clinical and basic science faculty, is home to a thriving Graduate Program in Molecular Oncology and Immunology, and has a long tradition as a forum for interaction among diverse trainees (graduate students, medical students, residents, clinical fellows, and postdoctoral fellows) that dates back to the days when Lewis Thomas held the Chair. The reorganization of the research side of the department into an Immunology Program, a Molecular Oncology Program, and a new Experimental Pathology Program ensures that the Pathobiology Graduate Program has a home from its inception and provides a necessary infrastructure for both continuing the graduate program and fostering translational research in the coming years. Pathobiology faculty are drawn from all three of these programs and, indeed, from throughout the School of Medicine.