Medical Sciences, MS

The Master of Science in Medical Sciences (MSMS) is a broad interdisciplinary degree program housed in the College of Medicine. Participating Departments and Centers include Behavioral Sciences; Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences; Toxicology and Cancer Biology; Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics; Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Neuroscience; and Physiology. The MSMS may be used as a stand-alone degree by students seeking career enhancement in fields such as basic biomedical research, the pharmaceutical industry, or the health science professions; by students seeking academic credentials in the biomedical sciences prior to applying for medical school or other health related professional degree programs; or by students seeking to enhance their knowledge base prior to choosing a career direction. The MSMS degree may also provide supplemental training for practitioners in the health professions (e.g., physicians, dentists, pharmacists), or students in professional health science programs based on individual career goals and research training needs. Finally, the MSMS program provides students with the opportunity to opt out of a Ph.D. program and receive a master’s degree.

Program Website: https://academics.uky.edu/programs/masters/medical-sciences

Admission Requirements

A baccalaureate degree from a fully accredited institution of higher learning.
A minimum undergraduate grade-point average of 2.75 and graduate GPA of 3.0.
Three letters of recommendation
Personal Statement
For the best chances of gaining admission to the program, an applicant should have one year of general chemistry, one semester of organic chemistry (or one semester of organic chemistry and one semester of biochemistry) and at least one year of biology.

Degree Requirements

Students entering the MS in Medical Sciences program can choose either a thesis option (Plan A), requiring 30 hours of graduate level course work, including six hours of research, or a non-thesis option (Plan B), also requiring 30 hours of graduate level course work, including three hours of research.

Plan A requires a defense of the master’s thesis.

Plan B requires a final master’s exam. Most students enrolling in the MS in Medical Sciences as a stand-alone degree utilize the Plan B pathway.

Required Courses

The plan of study for the MSMS program consists of a required ten (10) credit hour curriculum and elective courses based on career tracks. The 10 credit hour core curriculum consists of the following courses:

The Clinical and Translational Sciences

The Clinical and Translational Sciences (CTS) concentration is a pathway option for students who are interested in earning their MS in Medical Sciences (MSMS) degree. Students accepted into the CTS program typically consist of fellows or residents who have completed a formal professional degree program (e.g., MD, DMD, PharmD) with a rigorous basic biomedical sciences training. The two MSMS basic science core courses, IBS 602 - MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS or IBS 603 - CELL BIOLOGY AND SIGNALING and IBS 606 - PHYSIOLOGICAL COMMUNICATION be waived. However, any CTS applicant who has not completed equivalent coursework will be required to enroll in and pass IBS 602 - MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS or IBS 603 - CELL BIOLOGY AND SIGNALING and IBS 606 - PHYSIOLOGICAL COMMUNICATION . In addition, all CTS students will be required to complete the two remaining MSMS core courses focusing on ethics in research (TOX 600 - ETHICS IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ), and a seminar class of their own choosing. The CTS program is housed in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and it would be appropriate for CTS students to substitute BSC 534 - ETHICS AND RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH and BSC 733 - SEMINAR IN CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE to meet the ethics and seminar course requirements in the MSMS program, respectively. CTS students are required to complete BSC 731 - METHODS AND TECHNOLOGIES IN CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE , BSC 732 - INTERDISCIPLINARY PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT , and BSC 625 - FUNDAMENTALS OF BIOSTATISTICS FOR CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE (or similar biostatistics course, such as STA 580 - BIOSTATISTICS I ). These requirements are aligned with the learning objectives of the CTS concentration. CTS students are required to complete the requisite number of hours and successfully pass a master’s final exam to complete their MSMS degree. Both Plan A (thesis) and Plan B are available; 30 credits is required for each.