Welcome
The National Institutes of Health-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program is an accelerated, individualized doctoral training program for outstanding science students committed to biomedical research. It enables students to undertake a collaborative project in any area of biomedical investigation involving two mentors--one at the NIH intramural campus in Bethesda, Maryland and one at either Oxford or Cambridge University. Students conduct research at both locations and potentially other sites including field work in Africa and elsewhere around the world. All students participate in the enriched environment of the residential colleges of the U.K. Universities and enjoy special educational opportunities that develop their understanding of disease outcomes and policy issues related to their studies. The projects culminate in the award of a D.Phil or Ph.D. in science from either Oxford or Cambridge. Students may also pursue combined M.D./Ph.D. training through partnerships the program maintains with a broad range of American medical schools. The program is one of the NIH Graduate Partnerships Program offerings.
Student Discoveries
Since the program's inception in 2001, its students have authored over 40 publications including first-author papers such as these in Nature, Lancet Neurology, The Journal of Experimental Medicine and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. Read about noteworthy student discoveries in our program by clicking the images below.
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| HIV Vaccines | Pharmacology | Neuroscience | Stem Cells | Immunology | SARS |
Distinguishing Characteristics of the program include dual-mentoring by NIH and U.K. investigators on a collaborative project. This enables students to conceive and manage a research project on an international scale while completing the Ph.D. in about four years, half the time most American biomedical doctoral students invest in obtaining their degrees.
Former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni states, "The 21st century will require new collaborative research teams of investigators to pursue scientific needs and opportunities around the world. These collaborative teams will find solutions to the important biological, medical, and disease problems of our time. The NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars program is training outstanding students for exactly this type of endeavor and will equip them to make important scientific advances during their careers. I am convinced that in the long run this program will be viewed as one of the best things NIH is doing.”
