The Medical Scientist Training Program hosts numerous events throughout the year. Whether it is an event of a scientific nature, such as the monthly Discussions on Medical Research or a purely social occasion, such as the Winter Dinner all events are designed to bring our students together for interaction across class lines. Scientific ideas are exchanged in an informal setting; junior students seek advice form those that have “been there and done that” and everyone, administrators and students alike, have a chance to take a breath and catch up.
MSTP Weekly Meeting
The MSTP Weekly Meeting takes place every Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00. This event is designed to bring together the MSTP community for discussion of issues that are of particular interest to physician-scientists. MSTP students plan the Weekly Meeting, with guidance from the MSTP staff. The schedule is a follows:
1st Thursday: Future of Medicine
Guest speakers lead an open discussion around a particular clinical problem. The speaker describes the problem, the current state of research and offers insight on how the problem might be solve.
2nd Thursday: Work-in-Progress
Senior MSTP students present their research in a wide-open format.
3rd Thursday: Discussions on Medical Research
Established nearly 40 years ago, the Discussions on Medical Research features a practicing physician-scientist musing about medicine, research, career and life. Speakers offer advice on career planning, balancing work and home life, running a lab, etc.
4th Thursday: Wild Card
Something different each month. Typical activities include: seminars by physician-scientists from other institutions; panel discussions on selecting a thesis lab or PSTP residency programs; students reporting on medical mission trips or the American Physician-Scientists Association; MSTP Town Hall meetings; receptions honoring graduating seniors or retiring MSTP committee members; and Thank-Goodness-It’s-Almost-Friday’s.
The MSTP Weekly Meeting is open to clinical faculty and physician-scientists-in-training. A light dinner or appetizers are served, and informal interactions and networking are encouraged.
Annual retreat
A weekend retreat is held annually for the MSTP. The 2023 retreat will take place on May 20th at Bauer and Knight Halls on the Danforth campus. Students present their research and participate in group discussions on issues relating to biomedical research and academic medicine. A distinguished WashU MSTP graduate gives the keynote address.
Retreat 2022: Juliane Bubeck Wardenburg, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’01
Currently: Donald B. Strominger Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of Pediatric Critical Care, Washington University in St. Louis
Title of Talk: “Staphylococcus aureus disease: developing a ‘forward defense’ to prevent infection”
Retreat 2019: Rachel Easton, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’99
Currently: Executive Director, Clinical Development
Immunocore, LLC
Title of Talk: “Uveal melanoma, Immuno-oncology, and a few other things I never learned about in med school…”
Retreat 2018: Vivianna Van Deerlin, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’94
Currently: Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Title of Talk: “Navigating the road to precision diagnostics: A clinical, academic,
and personal journey”
Retreat 2017: Ellis J. Neufeld, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’85
Currently: Clinical Director, Physican-in-Chief and Executive Vice-President
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Title of Talk: “Learning from Patients, and the Path from Lab Bench to Clinical Research”
Retreat 2016: Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’87
Currently: Director, National Human Genome Research Institute
National Institutes of Health
Title of Talk: “From the Human Genome Project to Precision Medicine: A Journey to Advance Human Health”
Retreat 2015: David J. Loftus, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’89
Currently: Medical Director
NASA
Title of Talk: “From Terrestrial Medicine to Space Medicine: The Journey of a Physician Scientist”
Retreat 2014: Andrew C. Chan, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’86
Currently: Senior Vice President
Genentech, Inc.
Title of Talk: “Molecular Medicine: Personalizing health care to meet the challenges of drug discovery and patient care”
Retreat 2013: Dan R. Littman, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’80
Currently: Professor of Molecular Immunology
New York University
Title of Talk: “Microbiota-immune system interactions in health and autoimmune disease”
Retreat 2012: William Klunk, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’84
Currently: Professor of Neurology
University of Pittsburgh
Title of Talk: “Imaging Amyloid: Now that we can see it, what does it all mean?”
Retreat 2011: Clifford Saper, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’77
Currently: Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience
Harvard University
Title of Talk: “How to Pick a Scientific Question”
Retreat 2008: Jeff J. Lichtman, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’80
Currently: Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Harvard University
Title of Talk: “Connectomics in the Developing Nervous System”
Retreat 2007: Clifford V. Harding, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’85
Currently: Professor of Pathology and Oncology
Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program
Case Western Reserve University
Title of Talk: “Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipoproteins, Toll-like receptors and regulation of antigen presenting cells”
Retreat 2006: David D. Chaplin, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’80
Currently: Charles H. McCauley Professor and Chair of Microbiology
University of Alabama-Birmingham
Title of Talk: “Interplay between Innate and Adaptive Immunity in the Lung”
Retreat 2005: Martin M. Matzuk, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’90
Currently: Stuart A. Wallace Chair in Pathology,
Professor of Pathology and Molecular & Human Genetics
Co-Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program
Baylor College of Medicine
Title of Talk: “Transitions and Transgenesis Along One MSTP Career Pathway “
Retreat 2004: Barbara L. Hempstead, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’82
Currently: Professor of Medicine-Hematology/Oncology
Weil Medical College of Cornell University
Title of Talk: “Neurotrophins: Jekyll and Hyde Growth Factors”
Retreat 2003: Marc L. Reitman, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’83
Currently: Director of Obesity and Metabolic Research
Merck Research Laboratories
Title of Talk: “The physiology of lipoatrophy deduced from the A-ZIP/F-1 mouse”
Retreat 2002: Denise L. Faustman, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’85
Currently: Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of Immunobiology
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University School of Medicine
Title of Talk: “Role of Defective Apoptosis in Type 1 Diabetes and Other Autoimmune Diseases”
Retreat 2001: Ellis J. Neufeld, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’85
Currently: Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Hematology
Children’s Hospital-Boston, Harvard Medical School
Title of Talk: “Genetic Approaches to Rare Diseases: Thiamine-Responsive Megaloblastic Anemia Syndrome”
Retreat 2000: Robert B. Darnell, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’85
Currently: Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor of Cancer Biology, The Rockefeller University
Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weil Medical College of Cornell U.
Title of Talk: “The Intersection of Tumor Immunity and Neurologic Disease: Studies of the Paraneoplastic Neurologic Disorders”
Retreat 1999: Sandra L. Hofmann, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’83
Currently: Professor of Medicine and Molecular Genetics
University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center
Title of Talk: “Protein Acylation and Deacylation: Lessons from the Lysosome”
Retreat 1998: Mark S. Boguski, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’86
Currently: Vice President of Research
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
Title of Talk: “Adventures in Information Space: GenBank, Genomes and a Turning Point in Biomedical Research”
Retreat 1997: Keith L. Parker, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’81
Currently: Professor of Medicine, Chief of Endocrinology and Metabolism
University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center
Title of Talk: “Molecular Mechanisms of Sexual Differentiation”
Retreat 1996: Ira Tabas, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’81
Currently: Professor of Molecular Medicine; Anatomy & Cell Biology; Physiology & Cellular Biophysics
Columbia University Medical School
Title of Talk: “Sphingomyelinases and Atherogenesis”
Retreat 1995: Michael Kasten, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’84
Currently: Professor of Pediatrics-Hematology/Oncology, University of Tennessee
Chair of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Title of Talk: “Modulation of Cell Cycle and Cell Death after DNA Damage”
Retreat 1994: Michael Green, M.D., Ph.D. class of ’81
Currently: Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Director of the MD/PhD Training Program
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Title of Talk: “Leveraging Basic Science to Discover Novel HIV Inhibitors”
Winter dinner
Held in the month of January, this dinner brings together MSTPs of all years for a mid-winter break to share in food, fun and fellowship.
Yearly class function
The MSTP sponsors a group social activity for individual classes every year. These events give each class a chance to reconnect and catch up with one another. It is especially helpful during the graduate training years as people are dispersed in the labs across the university. Activities range from camping at a state park to dinner at an elegant restaurant to a backyard bash.