MMI faculty are strongly committed to providing excellent research training for PhD and MD/PhD students and to preparing them for successful careers as faculty and as researchers in health-science companies. The results of this commitment are evident. Our graduates obtain postdoctoral fellowships in prestigious labs across the country; our former postdoctoral fellows hold faculty positions at numerous universities and institutes with high research visibility. Some hold high level positions in companies. 

The training environment in MMI is excellent. From the beginning of graduate school, each student is assigned a faculty committee which monitors the student's research progress and provides counsel to the student until completion of his/her thesis project. Students rotate in three research labs in the first three quarters of graduate school. This experience allows the students to experience a variety of research opportunities and to help them choose a mentor for their graduate thesis work. 

In addition to didactic coursework, which take approximately 1.5 years to complete, students participate in journal clubs and present their research results in a formal seminar setting every year. They are taught to think critically and independently and to write manuscripts and proposals in the NIH style. Several seminar series on campus expose students to additional research approaches and philosophies and provide opportunities for students to meet researchers at the forefront of their fields. All MMI students are fully supported by stipends from NIH training grants or from grants held by their mentors. Students often take less than five years to obtain their PhD degree (a little less for MD/PhD students).