Program Requirements

Overview

The requirements of the CSTP include mandatory seminar and workshop attendance, maintenance of a B average in coursework for the Master of Science (MS) or Certificate in Clinical Research, including a B or higher in all required courses and completion of mentored clinical research with an NIH-funded University of Pittsburgh investigator. Certificate students' clinical research must produce an abstract submitted for presentation at a national meeting. MS students' research must produce a thesis or substantive research project. All research products and progress reports should be warehoused in the Zone, in compliance with Scholarly Project and CSTP requirements. Formal CSTP performance reviews will be conducted annually.

Seminars

MS-I
  • CLRES 2073: Introduction to Clinical Research. This seminar meets monthly and provides an overview of clinical research. CLRES 2073 includes some activities outside of class, such as certification in research integrity, human subjects research, conflict of interest, and HIPAA researchers privacy requirements (click here to complete research and practice fundamentals modules) and an Institutional Review Board practicum. 100% attendance is expected; students whose attendance falls below 66.7% will lose their CSTP scholarship.
  • CLRES 2074: Research in Progress Seminar. This seminar meets at least three times monthly and provides CSTP students with the opportunity to present their research in progress. The student's research mentor is expected to attend each of the student's presentations. 100% attendance is expected; students whose attendance falls below 66.7% will lose their CSTP scholarship.
  • Survival Skills and Ethics workshops: 1 Saturday workshop and 2 weekday lunch workshops (register for workshops here).
  • Mentor-Mentee workshop
MS-II
  • CLRES 2074. 100% attendance is expected; students whose attendance falls below 66.7% will lose their CSTP scholarship.
  • Survival Skills and Ethics workshops: 1 Saturday workshop and 2 weekday lunch workshops (register for workshops here).
MS-III
  • No required CSTP seminars
CSTP Research Year
  • CLRES 2074. 100% attendance is expected; students whose attendance falls below 66.7% will lose their CSTP scholarship.
  • Office of Academic Career Development: 2 workshops (click here to register for workshops)
MS-IV
  • CLRES 2074. Attendance required during elective research months.

Coursework

All students in the CSTP complete the core curriculum. Certificate students take an additional 4 units of elective coursework that can be drawn from any of the approved courses. MS students take an additional 19 units, including required and elective courses in their chosen specialty track and mentored thesis research units, as described here.

Mentored Clinical Research

Students must identify their clinical research mentor by the end of February of the MS-I year, in time to apply to the Dean's Summer Research program for stipend support (apply through the Zone). All students are required to do clinical research during the summer between MS-I and MS-II, in addition to the CSTP year. Approved mentors must have current NIH funding and be willing to sign a mentoring contract.

Thesis or Substantive Research Project

Certificate students must submit an abstract based upon their mentored clinical research to a national or international meeting. MS students must defend a formal thesis, which most commonly takes the form of two first-authored manuscripts that have been submitted for peer review (or which are submission-ready). CSTP students typically defend their MS thesis no later than February of MS-IV.

Read more on the Thesis or Substantive Research Project here.

Summary of Program Requirements

table

Click here to download the PDF version.