Applicable only to students admitted during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Computational Medicine

School of Medicine

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Computational Medicine offers the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Biomathematics, the Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Clinical Research, and the Medical Doctor (M.D.) and M.S. in Clinical Research articulated degree.

Clinical Research

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

The co-chairs within the departmental Executive Committee for the M.S. in Clinical Research confer with incoming students about their goals and prior preparation. Medical students and clinical fellows are assigned quantitative advisers by the Executive Committee. Medical students, fellows, and junior faculty identify a scientific advisor and scientific research project. If the medical student requires assistance identifying an advisor, then the Executive Committee will assist with advisor identification. The assigned quantitative adviser is either from the Executive Committee, the Admissions Committee, or from a faculty mentor list available within the department. Clinical fellows may use a faculty member from their subspecialty training program as an additional scientific adviser. Students meet with their adviser(s) at least once a month. Detailed student progress assessments are reported to the Executive Committee.

Areas of Study

Clinical and translational research including clinical trials, biomedical informatics, epidemiological studies, randomized prospective clinical trials, and retrospective trials.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Master’s degree and articulated degree candidates, in both MSCR Track A and MSCR Track B, must complete a minimum of 48 units, including 32 units of required upper division and graduate courses; at least five of the courses must be graduate level (200 series).

The nine required courses for MSCR Track A are Biomathematics 170A, 259, M260A, M260B, M260C, M261, 266A, 266B, and either Biomath 265A or Statistics 102A. The nine required courses for MSCR Track B are Biomathematics 170A, M260C, M261, 266A, 266B, Bioengineering 220, M226, M227, and either Biomathematics 265A or Statistics 102A. Eight (8) units of elective courses are required and selected in consultation with and approval by assigned advisors. Eight (8) units of Biomath 596 are required for thesis research.

With the graduate program advisor’s approval, equivalent courses may be substituted to meet the program’s coursework requirements.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

Articulated degree candidates will complete Capstone Plan II (capstone: research report). Master’s degree candidates may choose been Capstone Plan II or a Thesis Plan. For the Capstone Plan, a Master’s Report Committee will be constituted for each student. The Committee will have a chair and at least two other faculty members. Subject to approval of the committee, the capstone report can take on a variety of forms including a research article or a grant proposal. However, in all cases, the committee expects each Master’s Research Report would add to the body of knowledge in the student’s clinical specialty. The Committee will supervise the preparation of the report and will meet with the student regularly to review progress. The final research report will be presented orally to the committee and the final written research report must be approved by the full committee.

Thesis Plan

Articulated degree candidates will complete Capstone Plan II (capstone: research report). Master’s degree candidates Students may choose between a Capstone Plan II (capstone: research report) or a Thesis Plan.

Every master’s degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

A master’s thesis committee consisting of a minimum of three faculty is nominated by the department and appointed by the Division of Graduate Education. Students discuss with their adviser(s) their choice for the chair of the thesis committee (which must be a faculty within the Department of Computational Medicine). The committee composition must be approved by the Executive Committee. The completed thesis is presented to the thesis committee for approval.

Time-to-Degree

The normative time to degree is 7 quarters. The maximum time to degree is 11 quarters. Exceptions require approval of the Executive Committee.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
M.S.	7	7	11
M.D. & M.S.	3	3	4

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.