The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer an MD-PhD Dual Degree program.

READ MORE| Reliance Foundation Announce Postgraduate Scholarship 2023-24 - Apply Now

SRIHER will award this postgraduate medical degree, and IIT Madras' Department of Medical Sciences and Technology will award a PhD. Experts will focus on core clinical, interdisciplinary, and translational research as part of this collaboration.

The goal of the MD-PhD dual degree program is to produce well-trained research scientists who will lead India's quest for medical and health self-sufficiency. The program will begin in the following academic year.

Postgraduate students admitted to SRIHER through NEET who wish to pursue a PhD will apply to the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology at IIT Madras at the end of their second year. The Department of Medical Sciences and Technology will select candidates for the PhD program in accordance with established procedures.

“The MD-PhD graduates, who are known as ‘Physician-Scientists’ are very few. However, a remarkable 37 per cent of the Nobel Prizes in Physiology have been awarded to them. Physician-Scientists establish cause-and-effect relationships such as smoking and cancer and sugar and diabetes,” the official release stated.

READ MORE| IIT Kanpur and Airbus Forge Collaboration to Boost Aerospace Talent