Students can do a rotation during the summer before medical school begins but it is not required. Please contact the program director if interested.

• Complete the first year of medical school! The primary focus should be the medical curriculum. Students who encounter academic challenges jeopardize their ability to progress in the MD/PhD program.
• In the fall, the program director will meet with all first-year students along with directors of their specific PhD programs (also known as director of graduate studies or DGSs). The goal of this meeting is to discuss expectations for the first year and how students should arrange the first summer rotation. (During the first semester in medical school, students should apply for stipend support for this summer rotation from The Warren Alpert Medical School Summer Research Program. This will be discussed during the fall meeting.)
• Do the first lab rotation during the summer. A rotation request must be submitted to your PhD graduate program before the rotation begins. Contact your DGSs for information on how to submit.

• Complete second-year medical school classes—these end in December.
• Study, take, and pass Step 1 by the end of dedicated period at the end of Year 2. Students must pass Step 1 before they transition to the PhD program!
• In the fall, the program director will meet with all second-year students along with their DGSs. The goal of this meeting is to review progress from the first year and discuss expectations for the second year and plans for rotations.
• Students are required to submit the MD/PhD Leave of Absence Request Form to the Office of Records and Registration at AMS-records@brown.edu.
• Do second lab rotation from March to May. (A stipend is provided by the MD/PhD program for this rotation.)
• Do third rotation, if necessary, starting in June.
• Rotation requests must be submitted to your PhD graduate program before rotations begins. Contact your DGSs for information on how to submit.
• Students will begin to receive their graduate school stipend in June.

• Students must submit an NIH F30 application before the end of their fourth year in the MD/PhD program. Students should inform the MD/PhD program of their plans for submission, as the program will need to write a letter of support for the application.
• After completing two years of graduate school, students will begin to spend one half-day every two weeks seeing patients in the Family Medicine clinic or another clinical setting of their choosing. This activity is a required clinical component of the MD/PhD program and will continue until the students complete their PhD studies. The goal of this experience is to maintain clinical skills to prepare students for the return to medical school to resume their clinical training. This course is graded Pass/Fail and does not count towards the elective credit requirements for graduation from the MD program. Students should contact the Office of Records and Registration at AMS-records@brown.edu to enroll in their clinical elective.
• Students must defend their thesis before returning to medical school and prior to starting the required Clinical Skills Clerkship (held in February). Only once all requirements for their PhD studies are met can students begin their medical school Clerkships. Students should contact the program director as soon as they are planning to defend their thesis, so that they can discuss their transition back to medical school. Students should also contact the Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Medical School in the fall prior to their anticipated return so that they can be registered for the Clinical Skills Clerkship, enroll in the Lottery grid selection process for Clerkships, and ensure that all compliance requirements are up to date.
• Once graduate work is done and the PhD has been successfully defended, return to medical school to complete clinical Clerkships! Advising during the clinical years will be provided by the Medical School. Third-year rotations begin at the end of February—students must defend their PhD by early January to adhere to this timeline! Students who are unable to defend their PhD within the above timeline will need to request an extension of their Leave of Absence from the Medical School. As a reminder, students are expected to successfully fulfill all components of the MD/PhD program within eight years of matriculation to the Warren Alpert Medical School.
  Students must submit an NIH F30 application before the end of their fourth year in the MD/PhD program. Students should inform the MD/PhD program of their plans for submission, as the program will need to write a letter of support for the application.
• After completing two years of graduate school, students will begin to spend one half-day every two weeks seeing patients in the Family Medicine clinic or another clinical setting of their choosing. This activity is a required clinical component of the MD/PhD program and will continue until the students complete their PhD studies. The goal of this experience is to maintain clinical skills to prepare students for the return to medical school to resume their clinical training. This course is graded Pass/Fail and does not count towards the elective credit requirements for graduation from the MD program. Students should contact the Office of Records and Registration at AMS-records@brown.edu to enroll in their clinical elective.
• Students must defend their thesis before returning to medical school and prior to starting the required Clinical Skills Clerkship (held in February). Only once all requirements for their PhD studies are met can students begin their medical school Clerkships. Students should contact the program director as soon as they are planning to defend their thesis, so that they can discuss their transition back to medical school. Students should also contact the Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Medical School in the fall prior to their anticipated return so that they can be registered for the Clinical Skills Clerkship, enroll in the Lottery grid selection process for Clerkships, and ensure that all compliance requirements are up to date.
• Once graduate work is done and the PhD has been successfully defended, return to medical school to complete clinical Clerkships! Advising during the clinical years will be provided by the Medical School. Third-year rotations begin at the end of February—students must defend their PhD by early January to adhere to this timeline! Students who are unable to defend their PhD within the above timeline will need to request an extension of their Leave of Absence from the Medical School. As a reminder, students are expected to successfully fulfill all components of the MD/PhD program within eight years of matriculation to the Warren Alpert Medical School.

• Students must submit an NIH F30 application before the end of their fourth year in the MD PhD program. Students should inform the MD PhD program of their plans for submission, as the program will need to write a letter of support for the application.
• After completing two years of graduate school, students will begin to spend one half-day every two weeks seeing patients in the Family Medicine clinic or another clinical setting of their choosing. This activity will continue until the students complete their PhD studies. Students will get credit for this as a fourth-year medical school elective. It will be graded pass-fail. The goal of this experience is to prepare students for the return back to medical school.
• Students must defend their thesis before returning to medical school. Only once all requirements for their PhD studies are met can students begin their medical school clerkships. Students should contact the program director as soon as they are planning to defend their thesis, so that they can discuss their transition back to medical school. Students will also need to inform the medical school of their plans to return so that they can sign up for the clinical skills workshop and plan their rotation schedule.
• Once graduate work is done and the PhD has been successfully defended, return to medical school to complete clinical clerkships! Advising during the clinical years will be provided by the medical school.