All candidates for the mentored GTPCI curriculum will normally be admitted to the PhD program. By written request to the Program Director, PhD candidates may request transfer to ScM candidacy if, for valid reasons, they are unable to complete the residential or research requirements of the PhD program. Alternatively, students may be advised to request transfer to ScM candidacy if, in the opinion of their faculty advisor or the GTPCI Advisory Council, research achievements are not of sufficient scope or depth to satisfy the PhD requirements but do completely fulfill the expectations for a Master's degree. Students matriculating into a thesis-requiring degree program will not be allowed to transfer into the MHS degree program. Prerequisites for this degree include: satisfactory completion of 90 credit hours of course work, including one year of full-time in-residency course work, and registration for thesis preparation each term during the following two years; comprehensive examination at the end of the didactic year; and satisfaction of all university requirements for the PhD, including oral preliminary examination, thesis preparation and defense. This is the flagship program to which all subspecialty residency trainees should aspire, and into which all accepted candidates are routinely matriculated.
After a candidate is accepted into the program, a faculty advisor will be appointed by the Research Review Committee. The faculty advisor will normally be a member of the Advisory Council or a GTPCI Committee or an active GTPCI faculty member. The faculty advisor's responsibility is to advise the student on course work selection and monitor academic performance, provide general mentoring and support for academic issues and the selection of a thesis research topic and to serve on the student's thesis committee, if requested. Students are required to contact their faculty advisor by phone or in person at least once per academic term during the didactic year, and by July 1, and again December 1 in each succeeding research year until a degree is awarded. Each faculty advisor will provide brief, written documentation of these contacts to the Program Office for monitoring by the Research Review Committee.
During the second term of the didactic year, a required course (Professional Goals and Objectives course number 390.801) will provide each student with an opportunity for at least on detailed discussion with his/her advisor regarding career objectives, mentoring arrangements and thesis development. In addition, this course will initiate the structured process of considering and choosing among a variety of research topics for career development and thesis requirements. By June 1 of the didactic year, each PhD student will submit to his/her faculty advisor (and to any proposed research mentors) the equivalent of a 3- to 5- page, single-spaced research thesis proposal which outlines the background and rationale for the proposed PhD research effort, describes the proposed study design and methods, discusses major methodologies and practical challenges and indicates how any ethical concerns will be addressed. When acceptable to the faculty advisor and research mentors, each PhD student will initiate the formation of his/her thesis committee. The preliminary doctoral oral examination should ordinarily take place no later than the September following the completion of the didactic year and comprehensive written examination. The research proposal should be presented in writing in a detailed format (equivalent to 15-25 single spaced pages) to members of the Thesis Committee at least three weeks before the oral examination. The purpose of this examination is to determine whether the student has both the ability and knowledge to undertake significant research in his/her general area of interest. Discussion of the specific research proposal may serve as a vehicle for determining the student's general knowledge and research capacity, but this examination is not intended to be a defense of a specific research proposal. The requirements for the written doctoral thesis and its evaluations are detailed in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Policy and Procedure Guidelines. When the student's faculty advisor and the GTPCI Research Review Committee agree that a written draft of the dissertation work is acceptable, the student may proceed to schedule the "oral defense" of his/her thesis. If the Committee of Thesis Readers agree by majority vote that the candidate "passes" his/her oral thesis defense, the Committee will then recommend to the GTPCI Advisory Board and the Graduate Board of the University, the awarding of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Alternatively the Committee may recommend a ScM degree in Clinical Investigation if the scope and depth of the research accomplishments are insufficient for the doctoral degree and the candidate is unable or unwilling to extend his/her thesis work in an effort to qualify for a doctoral degree and the completed work fulfills requirements for the ScM degree. A doctoral student is expected to undertake a dissertation project which will represent a novel and substantial contribution to the chosen field of endeavor. The project must be of the student's own design and the student must be largely responsible for its completion. Ideally, the thesis project will focus on a single, important research issue. In unusual circumstances, the thesis project may consist of a series of smaller related studies designed to address a particular clinical or methodological problem. A doctoral dissertation must adhere to the published University guidelines for such a document. As a general guide, the completed doctoral dissertation should consist of two or more units which would be publishable in peer-reviewed journals. For example, the Introduction chapter could be publishable as a rigorous and comprehensive review of the research problem and individual chapters describing research results could be published as original papers in scientific journals. For dissertations which are more methods-oriented, chapters describing new research methodologies or data collection instruments might also be considered as publishable units. Acceptance of the thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD does not require that manuscripts be submitted or accepted for publication. However, in the opinion of the Thesis Committee, at least two parts of the thesis must be suitable for publication if submitted to peer-reviewed journals. Prior acceptance or publication will be taken as substantial evidence in favor of this requirement. The criteria to be applied by the Committee of Thesis Readers in evaluating a thesis are: the originality and publication potential of the research, the candidates' understanding of the details of the methodological and analytic work, the magnitude of the candidate's contribution to his/her chosen field of research and the final quality of the written thesis document. For admission to the program, the nominating department or division must guaranty three years of stipend support as well as identify a source for the tuition costs for the didactic year. Some of these costs have, to date, been defrayed by NIH training grants. A limited number of institutional tuition grants are provided to the program. Since July 1999, an NIH Curriculum Development Award (K30) has provided administrative, tracking and enrichment costs for the GTPCI program.
Students matriculated into the GTPCI program prior to July 1, 1996, are considered candidates for the ScM degree. These candidates may apply for transfer to the doctoral program by written application to the Program Director who will allow such transfers if the proposed dissertation research is likely to meet the PhD requirements. In such cases, all of the requirements for the PhD degree must be satisfied, including the requirement for both preliminary and final oral examinations in keeping with Graduate Board requirements. A ScM degree in Clinical Investigation may also be recommended by the PhD Committee of Thesis Readers if the scope and detail of the dissertation research is insufficient to qualify for the PhD, but satisfies the requirements for the ScM degree program. Students matriculating into the ScM degree program may not transfer into the MHS degree program. The ScM is a thesis-requiring degree which can be awarded to PhD candidate who cannot fulfill the full set of requirements for a PhD because of curtailed time available, unanticipated research difficulties or late shifts in thesis projects. Requirements include: 70 hours of course work, including a year of full-time coursework; comprehensive examination; and evidence of original research productivity as evidenced by submission of an acceptable Master's thesis. The written thesis must be based on original research, worthy of publication and acceptable to the program's Advisory Council and a Committee of Thesis Readers. The document may consist of one or more original manuscripts derived from the student's research and submitted to peer-review journals or a traditional thesis document with suctions on background and introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion and a copy of all study-related instruments. GTPCI candidates are not ordinarily accepted for this track initially, but may transfer into it by mutual agreement after matriculation. For students admitted to, or remaining in the ScM track, the procedure for thesis review and approval is detailed in SHPH PPM#14, Master of Science Degree-Inter-Divisional Program in Clinical Investigation. In such cases, only four members of the Committee of Readers are required, and an oral defense of the thesis is optional. ScM students can choose one of two formulas for submission of their thesis results. The first will consist of one or more thesis-related manuscripts derived from the student's research which have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals, supplemented by an expanded description of study methods and results, as well as a copy of all study-related instruments. Review articles alone do not fulfill this requirement. The second option will be the submission of a "traditional" thesis document with sections on background and introduction, literature review, study methods, results, discussion and a copy of all study-related instruments. Within four weeks of receiving the student's thesis, the Committee of Readers will meet determine whether the student's research meets the thesis requirement for the award of the ScM in Clinical Investigation. All thesis submissions MUST adhere to the formatting guidelines outlined by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For current or future PhD students who are advised or elect for valid reasons to transfer from the PhD program to the ScM program, the review and approval procedures outlined in PPM#14 will apply.
The MHS degree in Clinical Investigation is available to students who wish to limit their studies to the didactic course work and have passed the comprehensive examination. This is a non-research requiring degree which is awarded to GTPCI candidates who specifically apply for this non-research track, fulfill the requirements of 70 credit hours of course work and pass the comprehensive exam. These students will take the GTPCI didactic curriculum (exclusive of thesis preparation courses 390.701/702, for which electives must be substituted), without a research requirement. There is an option to pursue the degree part-time for an interval not to exceed four years. MHS candidates are assigned a faculty advisor whose role is to provide general academic and career advice and monitor the student's academic performance. GTPCI thesis-degree students may not transfer into the MHS track, nor receive an MHS degree even though they may have satisfied the nominal requirements. The Graduate Training Program in Clinical Investigation (GTPCI) and the University reserve the freedom to change, without notice and at any time, the programs, policies, requirements or regulations published on this website.
| 
