Sherrie Kaplan

IRVINE — The UC Irvine School of Medicine has kicked off an innovative master's degree program in biomedical translational science that will prepare emerging doctors and scientists to turn basic and clinical research into improved patient care.

The Master's of Science in Biomedical and Translational Science (MS-BATS) is a flexible program developed to address the acute needs for clinical researchers trained to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of the clinical research environment. It is aimed at junior faculty in clinical departments, fellows, residents, fourth-year medical students, physicians and others with a solid basic science foundation who are interested in developing the skills needed to conduct, interpret, evaluate and apply clinical research.

"The recent emphasis by the federal government to speed biomedical discoveries into the health care marketplace make this program particularly timely," said Sherrie Kaplan, program director and executive co-director of UC Irvine's Health Policy Research Institute. "Our curriculum has been developed to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of the clinical research environment."

The curriculum involves two years — six academic quarters plus one summer quarter - of coursework and research training. During their first year, students will focus on required coursework needed to establish a solid foundation in the fundamental disciplines underlying modern biomedical and clinical research. The second-year curriculum provides extensive research training where students will choose a research mentor and apply those principals learned during their first year of coursework.

"Initially, our MS-degree program curriculum will focus on the conduct and interpretation of clinical research and the assessment and improvement of quality of health care," Kaplan said. "The long-range expectation is to offer additional fields of emphasis, especially in molecular medicine and population health sciences."

For more information, see www.som.uci.edu/msbats.