Education and Research

The Office of Graduate Education (OGE) is led by the Associate Dean for Graduate Education (ADGE), Dr. Donita Robinson, who reports to the Vice Dean for Research and is a member of the OoR team.

The Associate Dean for Graduate Education and the Office of Graduate Education work closely with the 11 PhD granting programs in the SOM, as well as programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Dentistry and the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

The OGE manages a variety of programs connected to graduate training in the School of Medicine and other PhD granting departments such as Chemistry, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Oral Biology. Entry to any of these graduate programs is through the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program (BBSP), a unified mechanism for application to graduate study in the biological or biomedical sciences at UNC Chapel Hill.

The OGE works on maintaining diversity and offering career development throughout the training experience. Activities include workshops on teaching, managing a lab, non-traditional career paths; as well as social events to encourage interactions throughout the School.

The Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program (BBSP) is a unified mechanism for application to graduate study in the biological or biomedical sciences at UNC Chapel Hill. The BBSP is responsible for graduate students during their first year, giving them an opportunity to gain research experience with a variety of faculty that is not limited to a single degree program

The PhD in Biomedical Engineering is not part of the BBSP since it is a joint department at UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. Click here for more information on the UNC-NCSU BME department.

The School of Medicine and the Graduate School offer a combined MD/PhD program. The students in the MD-PhD Program train with a diverse faculty whose areas of research extend from the most basic of biological processes to translational interests much more clinically applied, and health care service research.

UNC fosters a culture of collaborative research where cross-departmental and cross-school collaboration is extremely common and highly valued. At the same time, UNC is very much committed to the training of outstanding physicians. Because of these complementary and equally valued areas of institutional excellence, UNC represents an ideal environment for students seeking to pursue combined-degree training in a state-of-the-art MD-PhD Program.

Visit the UNC MD-PhD website.

The Medical School offers opportunities for medical students to participate in various research programs. Funding is available to support students engaged in the program. The Office of Medical Student Research assists students and their mentors to find and participate in research experiences, here at UNC or around the world.

Visit the Office of Medical Student Research for more information and application process