MSc in Molecular Medicine: Clinical Applications Pathway

Course description

Medicine is quickly adopting molecular diagnostic technologies, vaccines and therapies that are the results of recent advances in molecular medicine and they are dramatically improving the way that human diseases can be treated.

Students with a degree in medicine have the chance to spend a 20-week clinical attachment with a specialist clinical team at the University Hospital. You need to have completed the taught part of the MSc Molecular Medicine. 

The clinical applications module gives you the chance to observe how the latest advances in molecular medicine have been translated into clinical practice in the UK NHS. You will have the opportunity to work with research active clinicians in the University Teaching Hospital.

MSc Molecular Medicine prepares medically qualified students for careers as clinician scientists and as such is excellent preparation for a future PhD or MD in the UK or elsewhere. The clinical observership is not an accredited clinical training course.

Teaching and assessment

In addition to the taught course in molecular medicine, you will undertake two components specific to the clinical area you are studying.

1. Literature Review

In this module, you are expected to carry out independent bibliogaphical research on the scientific background to the clinical work you will do during the observership and to write a review of the scientific articles that you have read. The review should be written as professionally as possible, as if it were intended for publication as a short review article or as the background section of a grant application.

The module starts in December and is led by a supervisor/clinical co-supervisor. You’ll first receive guidance from your supervisor on the topics to cover in the review, and then work on your own for several weeks. You’ll carry out bibliographic searches, read criticially the scientific literature identified and prepare a draft of the review before submitting the final version.

2. Seminar Presentation

The aim of the module is to acquire skills in presenting the background, evidence and some early clinical observations succinctly and comprehensibly, and to respond to questions from the audience. You should also be able to pose appropriate questions to other student speakers.

3. Clinical Observership

The observership runs from the end of March to early August. Total 300 hours or 3 days per week equivalent.

You’ll spend time with relevant clinical and laboratory teams at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. In advance of the start of the observership, the student and supervisor meet to decide the precise focus of the observership and a personal development plan. During the observership you will compile a portfolio of clinical cases seen, discussed and reflected on and use these to inform a dissertation that discusses how advances in molecular medicine are translating into changes in clinical practice in the specific clinical area.

Portfolio

During the observership you’ll put together a portfolio as evidence of your clinical experience. This will include three elements:

• Log book – diagnosis, summary of history, examination, investigations, management plan, outcome.
• Case-based discussion – a discussion about the management of a patient. The supervisor provides feedback on your clinical reasoning, decision-making and application of medical knowledge in relation to patient care. The case-based discussion might focus on a written record in the logbook or patient notes.
• Reflection – you will document your reflections about the key learning from a case and its relevance to the themes of your project.

Dissertation

This project pulls together the molecular biology and clinical practice in the discipline. You will agree a project question with your supervisor. The main output is a dissertation. You may be invited to attend a viva voce examination. The dissertation will draw on the clinical experience during the observership as recorded in the portfolio and can build on, but not include, the literature review.

Modules

Duration

1 year full-time. We are unable to offer a part-time or distancy learning study option for this course at present.

Our expertise

The University of Sheffield is ranked number one in the UK for the world-leading quality of our biomedical research and in the top ten for combined world-leading and internationally excellent research outputs in clinical medicine.

The impactful, high-quality research that we undertake influences how we teach across all of our postgraduate courses. In many areas, our research activity spans the spectrum from basic science up to practical clinical applications. We pride ourselves on collaboration between  clinicians and non-clinicians, and many of our courses include teaching from practising clinicians as well as research-active academics.

Entry requirements

A 2:1 degree with a substantial element of human or animal biology. Medical students can intercalate after completion of three years of their medical degree. We also welcome medical graduates and graduates in other scientific subjects such as biotechnology.

Overall IELTS score of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each component, or equivalent.