Different by degree: Graduate students in medicine have broad impact

For most people, the quickest way to identify students at a medical school is by their scrubs, white coats and stethoscopes. But the reality at the University of Kansas School of Medicine is that one-third of its students are pursuing a dream to be a researcher, scientist or policymaker, rather than a physician.

John Stanford, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and physiology and associate dean for research and graduate education at KU School of Medicine, said those pursuing advanced degrees other than M.D. go on to work in a variety of fields. In addition to pursuing academic careers, they may become pharmaceutical company scientists or medical science liaisons, government scientists at the National Institutes of Health or program officers with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies.

“There are full-time doctoral programs where students finish in around five years,” said Stanford. “There are also master’s and part-time programs for working people who want to reach the next level in their career.”

There are currently 2,573 learners at various stages of their careers enrolled at KU School of Medicine. Of those, 846 are students pursuing an M.D. degree. On the Kansas City and Wichita campuses, there are 410 students enrolled in graduate programs. The other 1,317 include residents, fellows and visiting students doing rotations.

Who is a good fit for these programs? “Basically, anyone who is curious and wants to work in science,” Stanford said. “I started out as a business major and became disillusioned with accounting.” A deeper curiosity about how the brain works resulted in Stanford earning his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology, and then he completed a fellowship in the neurobiology of aging.

Teresa Beacham, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Medicine’s population health program, was three years old when her parents first called her “the professor” because she surrounded herself with books. After working as a pharmacy technician, earning a Master of Business Administration degree in healthcare administration and managing fellowships at Children’s Mercy, Beacham is currently pursuing her ultimate academic dream: to become a scientist in healthcare.

“Throughout my career I always avoided patient care,” Beacham said. “I prefer the social science part of things.” She said her journey brought together all her passions, including research, policy and finding effective ways to care for underserved populations. She is currently a program director in the school’s Office of Medical Education.

Balancing a job and school is always challenging, but Beacham said pursuing her doctorate in population health has been meaningful. “I am a first-generation college student from Wyandotte County,” Beacham said. “I am a life-long learner, so it has meant taking on school at a slower pace to get the best possible education.”

Lauren Yoksh, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, is learning to use data to improve people’s health. “I instantly fell in love with the science of data. For me, biostatistics has been the perfect avenue to pursue a career in research while getting to do the science that I love — it's the best of both worlds!”

Yoksh added that pursuing her degree at a medical school has given her the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse range of clinicians and scientists. “It has exposed me to all kinds of innovative research,” she said. “There are a lot of people doing incredible, cutting-edge, novel research here and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by all this greatness.”

For more information about doctoral programs at KU School of Medicine, visit the school’s webpage.