The driving force behind the MD/PhD and MD/Masters program at the University of Ottawa was and remains to attract the small number of students with a high potential to grow into future leaders in the health sciences and allied fields. MD/PhD and MD/Masters students exemplify the multi disciplinary nature of the ongoing educational and scientific activities at our bilingual university. Our shared vision for the immediate and near future of the MD/PhD and MD/Masters program at the University of Ottawa encompasses among others the following goals.

Program Goals

1. To promote the pursuit of academic excellence through mentored guidance of all students in synergy with their supervisors and course directors;
2. To expose our trainees to the spectrum of physician-scientists’ activities at regional, national and international levels;
3. To expand the number of participating programs in the MD/PhD and MD/Masters curriculum.
4. To increase the number of women selected for the combined program;
5. To create a new forum that fosters the regular exchange between three important constituencies of our student body, i.e., those actively enrolled in the MD curriculum with a desire for additional research exposure; students in diverse MSc and PhD graduate programs with a strong interest for exposure to the medical sciences; and MD - Masters/PhD students, who will benefit from a growing cohort of like-minded peers, amid predictable changes in the makeup of their classmates during the >7 year curriculum;
6. To further grow a mentorship program that was introduced in 2016;
7. To stimulate a provincial and national debate regarding the long term benefits (and costs) of training students in two disciplines. To this end, to explore new funding opportunities for Canadian physician-scientists.
8. To catalogue accomplishments of our current students and future MD/PhD and MD/Masters graduates, and to actively support them in their quest to identify the best career choices for the time after completion of the program;
9. To longitudinally track the career paths chosen and future positions attained by our trainees. This effort will become part of a network comprising all dual degree programs in Canada. Important outcome measures embedded in these ten goals will ultimately help to gauge the contribution of our MD/PhD program to the success of the University of Ottawa and to Canadian society.