Overview:
The Masters Program in Comparative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM) is intended to provide graduate research training specifically for individuals holding the DVM degree.
The program has been offered since 1964. Financial support in this program is only available for those with a DVM; students without a DVM degree who are interested in a graduate program with an emphasis on comparative medicine research are encouraged to consider the Department's Molecular and Cellular Pathobiology (MacPath) graduate program, which leads to a PhD degree and affords similar opportunities for research as the Comparative Medicine Program.
The Master of Science in Comparative Medicine is administered through the Section on Comparative Medicine, which is a division of the Department of Pathology at WFUSM. The primary mission of the Section on Comparative Medicine is to provide an academic base for faculty who care for and/or who use animal models of human disease in programs of research designed to better understand problems of human health. Integral to its mission is the Department's commitment to pre- and postdoctoral education and training in the areas of comparative medicine and molecular and cellular pathobiology. This mission is facilitated by the unique nature of our animal facilities and training faculty's expertise in working with animal models.
Major interests include cardiovascular disease and lipid metabolism, cancer biology and risk assessment, diabetes and obesity, behavioral biology such as depression and anxiety, women's health/reproductive medicine, nutrition, comparative pathology, and substance abuse.
Program Goals:
This program is available as an alternative for individuals who hold a DVM degree and are interested in pursuing a career in research or laboratory animal medicine.
Graduate Program Faculty:
The graduate program faculty includes individuals with a huge range of interests and variety of research expertise. Click here to view a list with links to each faculty member's webpage. Dr. Charles Wood is the director of the MS in Comparative Medicine program.
Program Details:
The Wake Forest University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences requires all Masters candidates to take 30 credit hours of coursework. For the MS in Comparative Medicine, these credits will consist of the following:
- CM 703 (3 credits) Diseases of Laboratory Animals
- CM 704 (3 credits) Animal Models in Biomedical Research
- HSEP730 (3 credits) Introduction to Statistics
- CM 709, 710 (6 credits) Advanced Topics in Comparative Medicine
- CM 713, 714 (6 credits) Research
- TBD (3 credits) (Course related to candidate's research interest)
If the candidate already has sufficient experience in basic statistics, alternative course may be substituted with approval of the Program Director. Such courses may include Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, or other higher level statistics classes with a minimum of 3 credit hours. In addition to their coursework, Masters degree candidates will be required to organize a thesis committee, submit a written thesis based on original research performed by the candidate, and orally defend this work. The graduate research is expected to result in at least one first-author manuscript for publication.
The anticipated time for completion of the Masters Program is 3 years.
Please contact the director of this program, Dr. Charles Wood, for more information. Financial support is available for qualified individuals who already have received a DVM degree. Applicants who have other degrees may wish to consider alternate programs where funding is available.
Evaluation:
Student performance is evaluated in accordance with the requirements outlined in the Graduate School Bulletin.
Application Information:
Dr. Charles Wood is the director of the program. Click here to email Dr. Wood, or call (336) 716-1636.
You may also write to him at:
Dr. Charles Wood
Department of Pathology (Comparative Medicine)
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Medical Center Boulevard
Winston-Salem, NC 27157