Master's Degree Program

IMG_5323-X3AV mole model1Our Master's Degree program places an emphasis on molecular and cellular approaches to gain an understanding of environmental disease, with strong programs in redox biology, environmental mutagenesis, mechanisms of DNA damage and repair, cell signaling, and carcinogenesis. It also offers exposure to both basic science and clinical science environments.

Medical Student Fellowship

For medical students seeking a Master's Degree while pursuing their medical education the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicines offers a Medical Student Fellowship.

Master of Science in Pathology

The M.S. degree is a course and research based program culminating in a written thesis and defense. Research interests in the Department of Pathology are diverse, with special emphasis on redox biology and pathology with emphasis on lung diseases, cancer and genomics.

Requirements for Admission

Application deadline: June 1. Admission into this program requires the following:

  • Satisfactory undergraduate or graduate course work in chemistry, organic chemistry, and the biological sciences
  • Satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general exam or the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)
    • candidates with at least 2 years of clinical or other scientific laboratory experience will be considered without GRE or MCAT scores
  • Completion of the UVM Graduate College application
  • Three letters of recommendation that attest to the student’s intellectual maturity, oral and verbal communication skills, and their aptitude for studies towards an advanced degree in this area

Program Learning Outcomes for Students

  • Obtain, analyze and evaluate information from a variety of sources
  • Synthesize and apply knowledge to solve problems in ethical ways
  • Evaluate the credibility and validity of research methods and
    clinical testing
  • Defend the rigor, or lack of, when evaluating an experimental
    design including the inclusion or exclusion of crucial biological
    variables (e.g., sex, age, weight)
  • Recognize vital biologic or chemical resources used in both
    research studies and clinical decision making for patients
  • Identify effective communication strategies and engage in
    effective communication practices as team players
  • Serve as an advocate for rigor and reproducibility when faced with
    proposed research questions
  • Reflect on experiences and identify areas of improvement as life-
    long learners

Program Requirements

A minimum of 30 credits with a minimum GPA of 3.00 and successful completion of a comprehensive oral exam are required for a master’s degree in pathology. Students must also write, present and successfully defend their research thesis. Students must also meet the Graduate College requirements for the Master's Degree.

Core curriculum - (30-49) credit hours

BIOC 6001 General Biochemistry I  3 credits

CLBI 6010 Cell Biology 3 credits

PATH 6000 Biomedical Research Design 1 credit

PATH 6070 Molecular Pathology 3 credits

PATH 6080 Pathology Journal Club 1 credit

PATH 6090 Pathology Grand Rounds 1 credit

PATH 6280 Techniques in Microscopy 3 credits

PATH 6300 Pathology Rotations (3-9) credits

CLBI 6020 Science Communication 3 credits

NSCI 6270 Resp Conduct in Biomed Rsch 1 credit

PATH 6310 Pathology Clinical Practice 1 credit

PATH 6391 Master's Thesis Research (6-15) credits

Additional approved elective courses 5 credits

Comprehensive Examination

Preparation and defense of a thesis proposal fulfills the comprehensive examination.

For more information please contact program coordinator Arti Shukla, Ph.D.

 

Application Information

The Graduate College

Apply Now

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P&LM based Training/Core Facilities

Maastricht University Alliance

In 2007, the University of Vermont and Maastricht University signed an affiliation agreement, marking a formal arrangement to the Netherlands-based institution and UVM's previous ten-year collaboration. Maastricht's research and clinical care focus on cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic diseases and neuroscience overlaps the Larner College of Medicine's and The University of Vermont Medical Center's areas of excellence. In September of 2015 Maastricht University and UVM reaffirmed their formal alliance...read more.

As affiliates, the two institutions established a graduate student exchange program and collaborate in lung, cardiovascular, and proteomics research.

For more information, contact Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D.

 

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(l-r: Maggie King, master's student in pathology and laboratory medicine and Peter Durda, PhD., faculty research scientist LCBR in pathology and laboratory medicine.)

Story by Kristen Munson
March 20, 2024

Maggie King has worked with J. Peter Durda on two research abstracts using data from the RURAL Study. Last spring she presented on the validity of a blood analyzer used on the MEU at a meeting of the American Heart Association.

He and Maggie King, a master’s student in pathology and laboratory medicine, are working on an abstract with RURAL researchers testing associations between housing instability and indicators of cardiac disease, such as coronary artery calcium (CAC) buildup. In early October, they got their first look at the data from the Alabama cohort. They found that housing instability was associated with the presence of CAC as well as with higher prevalence of smoking among Black adults.

“With the social determinants of health, it’s a little more complex,” King says. “… You’re dealing with all these other different possible variables. It’s not just lab bench science where ‘oh if I do this, it’s going to result in that.’”

This is the second research abstract King has performed using data from RURAL. In the spring, she presented on the validity of the Pixcell Hemoscreen—a blood analyzer used on the MEU at a meeting of the American Heart Association.

The device is compact, easy to use and train people on—critical for use in a mobile clinic—and can perform complete blood counts.

“What we wanted to do was make sure it’s giving us the data that we would get if we were to test on a lab instrument in a hospital,” King says. (Their finding: it does.)

While she is no stranger to conducting research, King is still amazed how welcomed she was onto such a large public health study.

“As someone fresh out of their undergrad … I was like ‘oh, what can I contribute?” she admits. “It’s been really great to understand the workings of those sorts of projects and then to be able to see that yeah, there are all these people that are super qualified [and] super important to the study, and they have these fancy sounding jobs at the NIH, but they also want to promote people like me to study and to be a part of this.”

Link to full story: UVM Researchers Tackle Rural Health Disparities