The MSTP curriculum begins with the students devoting the summer session preceding the first fall semester to carrying out scientific research full time in the laboratories of at least two professors. This period, which fulfills the departmental requirement for two or three rotations, is crucial because it provides an opportunity for the MSTP students to choose a major professor and an area of concentration for the Ph.D. degree very early in the program and be in a position to conduct research related to their interest on a part time basis during the next three years.

During the first two years, the MSTP students complete the first-year basic science courses for the D.O. degree, and the required graduate courses. During year three and the following summer session the students complete the remaining medical courses. By fall semester of the fourth year the students are devoting full time to research and preliminary examinations are ordinarily completed by the end of the following summer.

Before entering the hospital clerkships the students must successfully complete the doctoral research and write and defend the Ph.D. dissertation. In addition to the course and thesis requirements of the Ph.D. programs and the courses and clerkships of the D.O. program, MSTP students participate in bi-monthly educational seminars and an annual research forum at which the students report on their academic and research progress.