Program in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences

he QBS program seeks to train highly qualified quantitative students for productive careers in biomedical research and teaching through the completion of an interdisciplinary Ph.D. degree. Our philosophy is the modern biomedical researcher must be able to speak more than one language to successfully collaborate in a highly multidisciplinary environment. Students trained through QBS will be versed in bioinformatics, biostatistics and epidemiology.

The program is interdepartmental with faculty from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Community and Family Medicine, Computer Science, Genetics and Medicine at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School. Numerous collaborations exist between QBS members and those in other Ph.D. programs at Dartmouth including the Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) Program, the Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine (PEMM) and the Graduate Programs at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI). Beginning in 2009, Dartmouth Graduate Studies and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business offer a new dual degree program which allows Dartmouth Ph.D. students to obtain an accelerated MBA degree.

QBS program members participate in several active seminar series with speakers drawn from a host of nationally and internationally recognized research institutions. Graduate student “research in progress” seminars are held on a weekly basis providing both an opportunity to learn about each other’s research and to obtain feedback from faculty and students. Informal interactions among program students and faculty take place during weekly get-togethers, Journal Clubs and also during program-sponsored annual retreats.

Modern biomedical research relies on both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches.  Multidisciplinary approaches bring several different scientific disciplines such as bioinformatics and genetics to bear on a research question. Interdisciplinary approaches synthesize knowledge and methods from other disciplines to provide an integrated framework for solving complex biomedical problems in new ways.  The rapid advancement of high-throughput technologies such as DNA microarrays and mass spectrometry for measuring biological systems and their application as part of translational medicine has generated a significant demand for investigators doing cutting-edge research in quantitative disciplines such as bioinformatics, biostatistics and epidemiology.  Those with the greatest impact are cross-trained in multiple disciplines giving them the ability to synthesize and integrate several disciplines to provide a truly interdisciplinary approach to solving complex biomedical problems. 

The goal of the Graduate Program in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences (QBS) is to prepare Ph.D. students for careers at the intersection of biomedical research and quantitative sciences such as bioinformatics, biostatistics and epidemiology. 

The requirements for the Ph.D. degree in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences are as follows: 

1. Satisfactory completion of a two-term course in quantitative biomedical sciences (QBS I and II), a one-term teaching assignment, and a three-term research course in quantitative biomedical sciences.  The latter will consist of three small research projects, conducted in rotation with different faculty members for periods of about three months each. 

2. Satisfactory completion of two terms of bioinformatics (Foundations to Bioinformatics I and II), two terms of biostatistics (Foundations of Biostatistics I and II), two terms of epidemiology (Foundations of Epidemiology I and II) and one term of research ethics (Scientific Integrity and Research Ethics). 

3. Satisfactory completion of two approved graduate level elective courses. 

4. Participation in the weekly graduate research colloquium. 

5. Satisfactory completion of an oral qualifying examination. 

6. Satisfactory completion of a significant research project and preparation of a thesis describing this research. 

7. Successful defense of the thesis in an oral examination and presentation of the work in a public lecture.

Required Support Materials

1. Personal Statement (Application Essay) describing your personal and scientific interests, career goals.
2. Official College transcripts (undergraduate and graduate)
3. Official GRE standard exam scores (verbal, quantitative, analytical writing) from ETS (subject exams not required). Only reports sent by ETS to QBS will be accepted — no photocopies
4. Official TOEFL (for international students) exam scores from ETS. Only reports sent by ETS to QBS will be accepted — no photocopies.  We will also accept IELTS scores with band scores of 7.0 or higher.
5. Three letters of recommendation
6. Application Fee of $75 US payable to Dartmouth College by credit card. We do not defer or waive application fees.

Dartmouth offers full financial support to all students in doctoral programs. Financial support includes a paid yearly stipend or fellowship at a minimum of $24,000. Students generally do not need to pay any tuition from their stipend as doctoral tuition is typically paid, or scholarship arrangements are made. Financial support is usually supplied for the entire duration of a student’s enrollment in their doctoral program, although support terms may differ slightly by program.