Project Grant T32GM163810

The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) received a $136,074 Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. This award supports the establishment and expansion of UMMC's Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), which trains physician-scientists (MD/PhD students) to conduct biomedical research while addressing critical healthcare challenges in underserved populations. The program leverages UMMC's status as Mississippi's only academic health science center and Level I Trauma Center, positioning trainees to conduct research on health disparities and social determinants of health affecting the state's most vulnerable populations.

The deliverables under this award include structured MD/PhD training across multiple graduate programs including cellular and molecular biology, microbiology and immunology, experimental therapeutics and pharmacology, neuroscience, physiology, biomedical materials science, and population health. UMMC's MSTP will provide student support, mentorship from nearly 80 faculty researchers, and access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure and cores funded by NIGMS Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence and the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research. The program is designed to produce the next generation of clinician-scientists equipped to address complex healthcare challenges within Mississippi's academic medical center environment, building upon the institution's successful track record of training over 300 PhD students and graduating 10 MD/PhD students over the preceding five-year period.