Suggested Timetable

In addition to the core foundation courses required for all students, the Med-Into-Grad curriculum includes the following set of courses offered at Rice and M.D. Anderson.

Suggested Time Table
Students Entering Fall 2009/2011/2013

Students Entering Fall 2010/2012/2014

Summer I: Introductory Clinical Cancer Care Internship

During the first two weeks of the summer internship, students will take a two week Introduction to Clinical Medicine module, where they will learn to take a history and perform a complete physical examination. They will receive instruction in clinical etiquette and the HIPAA regulations. They will earn CPR Certification and Advanced First Aid Certification. This will prepare them for the clinical rotations in the following four weeks.

Students will spend their mornings rotating through Diagnostic Cancer Imaging, Surgery, Radiotherapy, Internal Medicine, Lab Medicine, Pathology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, and Cancer Prevention. Each rotation will be approximately three to four days in length. Students will be assigned to a clinical mentor, and observe the mentor interacting with patients, performing clinical procedures, analyzing test results and developing treatment plans. Clinical mentors will be chosen from a pool of recipients of teaching awards at M.D. Anderson. Students will keep a weekly journal in which they describe their experiences in the clinical rotations

In the afternoons, students will take part in a Gross Anatomy Laboratory, where they will work in teams to carry out a complete cadaver dissection. Over the four weeks of Gross Anatomy, students will be exposed to a mix of lectures, dissection, and special projects emphasizing the anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology of the major organ systems.

Finally, students will carry out a four week, mentored translational research experience at M.D. Anderson. A database of translational research projects involving collaborations between Rice Bioengineering faculty and M.D. Anderson faculty will be developed; students will select a project from this database. They will participate in a 4 week research rotation to begin to identify their PhD thesis project. Students will prepare a poster describing their research and will participate in a poster session at the conclusion of the research rotation.

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Summer II: Advanced Clinical Cancer Internship

Students will carry out an Advanced Clinical Cancer Internship at M.D. Anderson in an area of relevance to their selected research topic. Students will work with Drs. Moake and Richards-Kortum to develop an advanced internship to be carried out at M.D. Anderson in an area that is relevant to their PhD research project. We anticipate that some students will wish to pursue clinical rotations with translational research while others will wish to pursue returning for pure translational research internships. Having gained the vocabulary and experience of the first year, the second internship will provide students with ability to enhance knowledge in a specific area of cancer medicine.

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Course Descriptions

BIOE 661 Oncology for Bioengineers: Molecules to Organs *
This new course will provide an overview cancer terminology, and concepts in epidemiology, anatomy, pathology, and pathophysiology of cancers of the major organ systems. The novel feature of this course is that it will describe anatomic structure and cancer pathology across a range of physical scales, ranging from the molecular to the cellular to the organ to integrated organ systems. In addition, the course has a patient-oriented focus; students have the opportunity to visit with patients and interview them about their signs and symptoms, their diagnosis and treatment and their experiences in the health care system. These interviews guide focused student course projects to learn more about cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

* In lieu of BioE 661, students may substitute an approved additional graduate level course on a cancer-related topic offered either at M.D. Anderson or Rice.  A list of approved substitutions will be maintained by the Med-intro-Grad program. Executive Committee approval will be required to add courses to this list.

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GS040063 Cancer Biology The course provides an overview of cancer biology, including tumor/host interactions, metastasis and invasion, tumor cell biochemistry, tumor heterogeneity, tumor cell surfaces and developmental aspects.

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GS040213 Mechanisms in Cancer Therapeutics The course establishes a foundation of the principles of cancer therapy, including pharmacologic rationales, consideration of biological targets and mechanism-based approaches to combinations. Therapeutic modalities covered include agents that damage DNA, radiotherapy, gene therapy and immunotherapy. Students learn to identify novel therapeutic targets and procedures used to develop new agents for clinical evaluation.

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