Doctoral Dual Degrees

The governing policies for dual degrees are the same for master’s and doctoral students. Please refer to the dual-degree information for master’s students for more information.

Dual Degrees for Medical Students

The MD/PhD program is for the student seeking a biomedical research career. Additional years are integrated into the medical curriculum to satisfy requirements for the PhD. This is typically accomplished after completion of the MD. PhD programs are available in diverse areas at MU.

Using the flexibility of the graduate and medical curriculum, students may pursue combined MD/MS or MD/PhD degrees. Students are accepted to the joint program by a single committee. Students interested in this dual-degree program should inquire at the dean's office in the School of Medicine.

Financial Support

Financial support may be provided for the graduate portion of the dual-degree program. Fellowship support may be provided for the PhD portion of this program, while loan and scholarship funds may be available for the MD curriculum.

Applying Credit

Students participating in the MD/PhD Program at the University of Missouri may apply up to 30 hours of credit for courses taken during the preclinical phase of the MD program towards the 72 hour requirement for the PhD degree. These MD courses, however, cannot be used to satisfy the requirement for 15 hours of 8000/9000 of graduate level course work.

The following table lists the distribution of credits for the preclinical courses among areas of study that can be used by the student and their committee in determining how many credit hours should be applied toward the PhD.

Course	Applicable Hours Toward PhD
Biochemistry	6 hrs
Microbiology	4 hrs
Immunology	3 hrs
Pharmacology	4 hrs
Physiology	4 hrs
Pathology	6 hrs
Neurosciences	3 hrs