Physician Scientist Training Program

For over a decade the Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) at the University of Cincinnati has recruited and trained high quality physician scientists that advance their fields through great patient care and top-notch research. We take great pride in not only following the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) guidelines for training, but also offering close mentorship and individualized training plans with ample flexibility in order to ensure that the clinical and research success of all of our trainees. 

Residents typically spend two years training in Internal Medicine, one to two years in fellowship training and three years in the laboratory or conducting clinical subspecialty research (80% research and 20% clinical). To ensure adequate internal medicine residency training time, we enrich the internal medicine rotations for more rigorous, direct patient care months at the expense of elective rotations, as mandated by the ABIM.

The program is geared toward applicants who are planning an academic career. While prior scholarship is desired, we also recognize that the path towards an academic career is not always straightforward and have succeeded in training people from diverse educational backgrounds. Furthermore, we have developed other training programs for those interested in an academic career including the IMSTAR and R38 funded training programs. In sum, we have created a large and dynamic community of physician-scientists that provide support and mentorship to each other throughout their training.

Trainees select their fellowship specialty of choice within Internal Medicine during their interview process and have ample opportunity during their first two years of medicine training to select mentors from our cadre of faculty with active research programs and track records of training experience, productivity and research excellence. This research time is not only fully supported at the Department level, we have also added financial support to ensure that our fellows have ample protection and support during the research portion of their training regardless of the laboratory that they have selected. Interviews for this program include tailored visits with potential mentors and subspecialty programs geared toward the interests of the trainee.

Although we require no formal coursework, trainees may choose from an extensive menu of departmental courses and seminars targeted to physicians interested in research careers as well as graduate courses offered through the University of Cincinnati.

The Director of the program is Jack Rubinstein, MD, FACC. Dr. Rubinstein is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases as well as Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati. He has been variously funded by the NIH, AHA and VA to conduct basic, translational and clinical cardiovascular science research. He provides active planning, mentorship and support from residency through fellowship in order to foster clinical and research excellence.

We typically select one to two candidates per year. Please click here to see information about our current PSTP participants.