Skip to main content

Division of Medical Sciences

Last Updated

Questions about these requirements? See the contact info at the bottom of the page. 

The Division of Medical Sciences  offers programs in bioinformatics and integrative genomics, biological and biomedical sciences, immunology, neuroscience, speech and hearing bioscience and technology, and virology. 

Satisfactory Progress

Satisfactory progress is required for Division of Medical Sciences (DMS) students to continue enrollment in the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Each program in the DMS determines progress by considering the following: performance in courses; performance on their preliminary qualifying examination; demonstration of adequate research ability and/or level of improvement; acceptable ethical conduct; participation in other scholarly activities of the student's program; completing work prescribed by the dissertation advisor; and required activities of the DMS.

Ordinarily, students are expected to complete their dissertation by the end of their fifth year. Under no circumstances will students be allowed to register beyond the 10th year in Harvard Griffin GSAS. Depending on progress, a student may be allowed to enroll in DMS between 7 and 10 years. If a student has withdrawn and wishes to apply for readmission, the information on doing so is here

Courses and Grades

The particular courses a student is required to take vary among programs. In addition to each program’s core curriculum, some programs require that students take additional courses to ensure a broad background in basic science. Harvard Griffin GSAS states that the minimum standard for satisfactory work is a B average in each academic year.

Rotations

Laboratory rotations are required to ensure some breadth of research experience and exposure to opportunities in the Division of Medical Sciences and to give the student a trial period before making a commitment for dissertation work. Students are expected to have completed satisfactory rotations in at least two labs prior to full-time research; many students complete three rotations, which is strongly recommended. 

The Conduct of Science

Medical Sciences 300qc, The Conduct of Science, is a discussion forum on ethics and the proper conduct of science. It is designed to provide discussion among new and continuing students and faculty on matters of responsible scientific practice and ethics. All students in the Division of Medical Sciences must register to take this course in their second year. According to NIH Guidelines, students in their sixth year must take the Conduct of Sciences Course Medical Sciences.

Credit for Work Done Elsewhere

The programs may excuse a student from some of the program course requirements in consideration of courses taken elsewhere. Only courses taken after the bachelor’s degree may be given official Harvard Griffin GSAS credit toward the PhD degree. Courses for official Harvard Griffin GSAS credit cannot appear on the student’s undergraduate transcript. The maximum allowable credit for courses taken elsewhere is eight four-credit courses.

Advising

Advising of students is multilayered—distributed among advisors, committees, program heads, program administrators, DMS, and Harvard Griffin GSAS. The division provides all students with a set of academic guidelines that describes advising. In general, each first-year student is assigned a faculty advisor or committee to assist in course selection. Sometimes the advisor serves as the academic advisor to all first-year students in that program. This process continues until a student selects a dissertation laboratory and a dissertation advisory committee (DAC) is formed. In parallel with the dissertation advisor, the DAC monitors the student’s progress, offers assistance, and determines when the student can write and defend the dissertation.

Master of Arts (AM)

The programs in the Division of Medical Sciences offer PhD training and do not accept candidates for a master’s degree. Only under exceptional circumstances does the Division award a terminal master’s degree. Eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Teaching

The Division of Medical Sciences encourages students to gain meaningful teaching experience as part of their graduate training. While DMS does not have its own teaching requirement, several individual programs include a term of teaching among the academic requirements. Students who have passed their preliminary qualifying examination and have met their program’s teaching requirement may undertake additional teaching or tutoring responsibilities, but only with permission of their dissertation research advisor and the DMS. Applications to teach in a course must be submitted to the DMS for approval. Students should not teach more than one-quarter or one section of time in any given term. Students in their sixth year and above are not allowed to teach.

If students plan to do any teaching during a term, the student must list “MED-SCI 350T: DMS TIME: Teaching Fellow Related” on their study card. For example, if a student plans to teach one-quarter of their time, they must sign up for one “DMS TIME: Teaching Fellow Related”.

Preliminary Qualifying Examinations

Each student is required to pass a preliminary qualifying examination administered by the student’s program. This examination is given at the end of the first year or during the second year. The preliminary qualifying examination varies somewhat from program to program. The common format consists of a written proposal that is defended orally. Continued enrollment for any student who has not attained a clear pass after a second examination, if one had been approved, will be determined by a committee of faculty from the student’s program and the director of graduate studies for the Division of Medical Sciences. A student is not allowed to register for the fourth year if they have not passed the preliminary examination.

Dissertation

Selecting a Dissertation Advisor

Selection of a dissertation advisor is a multistep process: Before a student may officially begin dissertation work in a laboratory, their selection of a dissertation advisor must be approved by the program and the director of graduate studies for DMS. When a student decides on, and is accepted by, a dissertation advisor, they initiate this process by obtaining a Dissertation Advisor Declaration form (DAD) available from each program’s administrator.

Dissertation Advisory Committees (DAC)

An important policy of the Division of Medical Sciences is that each graduate student must establish a dissertation advisory committee (DAC) to provide timely and considered advising. The DAC helps set logical goals for the completion of the dissertation and monitors progress toward completion of degree requirements.

The student’s DAC should be formed in consultation with the student and the student’s dissertation advisor. The committee should have three members, not including the advisor. The dissertation advisor serves as an ex officio member. Each student bears primary responsibility for setting up the DAC and ensuring that it meets in a timely fashion. The student should meet with their committee as soon as possible after the preliminary examination, but in all cases by the end of graduate year three and each 12 months thereafter. Beginning with the fourth graduate year, students will be allowed to register for the upcoming year(s) only if their DAC has met and filed a formal report within the past 12 months.

The DAC will meet as a group and report annually. Beginning no later than the end of the third year, the dissertation advisory committee will ask if the research project is heading towards a plausible dissertation. The dissertation advisory committee may decide to meet more than once a year for students in their fifth year and above, or in special circumstances.

The chair of the DAC is responsible for the preparation of the report, which should be signed by all committee members immediately upon conclusion of the meeting. 

Final DAC Meeting

Students must have the final dissertation advisory committee report on file in the Division of Medical Sciences office stating that the student may begin writing the dissertation with approval of the general outline and content of dissertation prior to processing dissertation defense paperwork. (See your program administrator or go to the DMS website for a form.) After receiving approval and permission from the committee to write the dissertation, students should then defend their dissertation no later than six months from the date of permission to write.

Preparation for the Dissertation Defense

A dissertation information meeting is offered by the DMS office specifying the steps to be taken following their last DAC meeting when the student is ready to apply for the PhD degree.

Students must have a DAC report on file in the DMS office stating that the student may begin writing the dissertation prior to processing dissertation defense paperwork.

The dissertation must show original treatment of a fitting subject; contain a scholarly review of the pertinent literature; give evidence of independent research, and be clearly, logically, and carefully written. Students are expected to give a public seminar on their dissertation research.

Attributions to Dissertation

The PhD dissertation is expected to contain a substantial amount of independent research work of publishable quality. In addition to chapters of research, each dissertation must contain introduction and conclusion chapters that present the themes of the dissertation and summarize the accomplishments. In some cases, the student has done all of the work in the dissertation; more often, portions of the dissertation result from collaborative research. In all dissertations containing collaborative results, the dissertation should indicate concisely who contributed the work.

Procedures and requirements for the final dissertation manuscript are described in Dissertations.

Examiners

The student and the student’s dissertation advisor must select at least four examining committee members: an examination chair, who is a member of the DAC, and three examiners. The director of Graduate Studies of the Division of Medical Sciences and the head or designated faculty member of the candidate’s program will approve the members from a list submitted by the candidate and their advisor (“Proposed Dissertation Examiners” form). All proposed examiners must be the rank of assistant professor or higher at an academic institution. The chair of the exam committee, as well as at least one examiner, must be faculty from the DMS; the dissertation advisor is not eligible to be an examiner or the chair, but usually attends the examination ex officio. To broaden the examination and enhance its significance, one member of the examination committee must be from outside Harvard University. Only one member of the DAC can become a member of the student's examination committee. The examination committee chair, who in many cases is the chair of the DAC, does not function as a voting examiner but may participate in the questioning of the candidate. 

Past collaborators and coauthors are usually not appropriate to be examiners. It is the student’s responsibility to indicate any possible relationship of this kind. Faculty members who have collaborated with the student or the student’s advisor on the student’s area of research within the past five years may not serve on the examination committee. Faculty with whom the student has done a regular laboratory rotation in the process of selecting the dissertation laboratory are eligible if there are no other collaborations. Students may petition the Division of Medical Sciences to approve examiners whose collaboration with the student or advisor was not directly related to the dissertation research.

Contact Info

DMS Website

dms@hms.harvard.edu

Let us know your thoughts

Was This Helpful?

Yes
I found what I was looking for.
No
I couldn't find what I needed.
Events Calendar