Essential components of a successful doctoral program in nanomedicine

Abstract

The Nanomedicine program at Northeastern University provides a unique interdisciplinary graduate education that combines experiential research, didactic learning, networking, and outreach. Students are taught how to apply nanoscience and nanotechnology to problems in medicine, translate basic research to the development of marketable products, negotiate ethical and social issues related to nanomedicine, and develop a strong sense of community involvement within a global perspective. Since 2006, the program has recruited 50 doctoral students from ten traditional science, technology, and engineering disciplines to participate in the 2-year specialization program. Each trainee received mentoring from two or more individuals, including faculty members outside the student’s home department and faculty members at other academic institutions, and/or clinicians. Both students and faculty members reported a significant increase in interdisciplinary scholarly activities, including publications, presentations, and funded research proposals, as a direct result of the program. Nearly 90% of students graduating with a specialization in nanomedicine have continued on to careers in the health care sector. Currently, 43% of graduates are performing research or developing products that directly involve nanomedicine. This article identifies some key elements of the Nanomedicine program, describes how they were implemented, and reports on the metrics of success.

Keywords:

• nanomedicine
• IGERT
• nanotechnology
• nanoscience
• education
• graduate training

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grants NSF-DGE-0965843 and NSF-DGE-0504331 to Northeastern University. We thank Rita Kaderian for providing assistance with data collection. We also thank the IGERT program faculty members, staff, and trainees (see www.igert.neu.edu) for their central contributions to and for providing feedback on the program as described in this article.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.