Dual-Title PhD in Clinical and Translational Sciences

Admission Requirements

Doctoral students with research and educational interests in clinical and translational science may apply for the Dual-Title Ph.D. degree in Biobehavioral Health and Clinical and Translational Sciences following admission to the Graduate School and Biobehavioral Health graduate degree program. After admission to their primary program, students must apply for admission to and meet the admissions requirements of the CTS dual-title program. Refer to the Admissions Requirements section of the CTS Bulletin page. Doctoral students must be admitted into the dual-title degree program in CTS prior to taking the candidacy examination in their primary graduate program.

Degree Requirements

This dual-title degree program emphasizes interdisciplinary scholarship at the interface of basic sciences, clinical sciences, and human health. Students in the dual-title program are required to have two advisers from separate disciplines: one individual serving as the primary mentor in the graduate program in Biobehavioral Health and another individual serving as the secondary mentor in an area covered by the dual-title program who is a member of the Clinical and Translational Sciences faculty.

To qualify for the dual-title degree, students must satisfy the degree requirements for the degree they are enrolled in BBH, listed above. In addition, students must complete the degree requirements for the dual-title in CTS, listed on the CTS Bulletin page.

In accordance with Graduate Council policy, the candidacy committee must include at least one member of the Clinical and Translational Sciences graduate faculty. Faculty members who hold appointments in both programs’ graduate faculty may serve in a combined role. There will be a single candidacy examination which will include content from both the Graduate Program in Biobehavioral Health and the Clinical and Translational Sciences programs. Dual-title graduate degree students may require an additional semester to fulfill requirements for both areas of study and, therefore, the candidacy examination may be delayed on semester beyond the normal period allowable http://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/degreerequirements/degreeReq1.

In addition to the general Graduate Council requirements for doctoral committees, the doctoral committee must include at least one member of the Clinical and Translational Sciences Graduate Faculty. Faculty members who hold appointments in both programs’ Graduate Faculty may serve in a combined role. If the chair of the committee is not also a member of the Graduate Faculty in Clinical and Translational Sciences, the member of the committee representing Clinical and Translational Sciences must be appointed as co-chair. The fields of Biobehavioral Health and Clinical and Translational Sciences will be integrated in the student’s comprehensive examination.  The CTS representative on the student’s doctoral committee will develop questions for and participate in the evaluation of the comprehensive examination.

All students are required to conduct dissertation research that contributes fundamentally to the fields of Biobehavioral Health and Clinical and Translational Sciences. Upon completion of the doctoral dissertation, the candidate must pass a final oral examination (the dissertation defense) to earn the Ph.D. degree. The dissertation must be accepted by the doctoral committee, the head of the graduate program, and the Graduate School.