Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER) to offer a postgraduate medical programme — MD-PhD Dual Degree.
SRIHER will grant this postgraduate medical degree, and the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology at IIT Madras will confer a PhD. Experts will focus on fundamental clinical, multidisciplinary, and translational research as a result of this collaboration.
The MD-PhD dual degree program aims to develop highly skilled research scientists who would spearhead India’s medical and health sector’s journey toward self-sufficiency. The program will begin to run in the upcoming academic year.
Postgraduate students who are interested in pursuing a PhD and have been admitted to SRIHER through NEET will apply to the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology at IIT Madras for the PhD programme at the end of their second year. The Department of Medical Sciences and Technology will choose candidates for the PhD program in accordance with established protocol.
According to the official release, “The MD-PhD graduates, who are known as ‘Physician-Scientists’ are very few. However, a remarkable 37 per cent of the Nobel Prizes in Physiology have been awarded to them. Physician-Scientists establish cause-and-effect relationships such as smoking and cancer and sugar and diabetes.”
