KL2 Clinical Scholars Master's Degree Program

The KL2 Clinical Scholars program is a three-year training experience designed to prepare physician-scientists and select doctoral-level PhD investigators for independent careers in clinical and patient-oriented translational research. The program leads to a Master’s degree in Clinical and Translational Research. The program is funded in part by a KL2 grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is linked to the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). Those individuals who demonstrate superior performance during the program will be eligible to extend their training in the Rockefeller University Graduate School as candidates for the PhD degree. Applicants from underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Pacific Islanders) and disadvantaged backgrounds and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

The program is designed to provide an optimal environment and mentoring structure for the Clinical Scholar to develop the experience and capabilities necessary to initiate an independent career as a patient-oriented and translational investigator.

Clinical Scholars carry out one or more patient-oriented translational research project(s) under the direct supervision and mentorship of a senior faculty member. This mentored, the independent research project is complemented by a rigorous three-year core curriculum in Clinical and Translational Investigation. This curriculum provides training in the essentials of clinical and translational research, including the responsible conduct of research, biostatistics, regulatory and ethical issues, and standards for conducting clinical studies.

Established in 1901, the Rockefeller Institute for Biomedical Research was a revolutionary concept of the time: an institute dedicated to researching the underlying causes of disease.

The world’s leading biomedical research university, Rockefeller draws top scientists and graduate students from around the world to pursue one mission: to conduct science for the benefit of humanity.

Our nimble organizational structure is designed to speed progress. Unrestricted by bureaucracy, our scientists are free to move in whichever direction their research takes them and poised to perform at their best.

Rockefeller has a strong tradition of translational science—nearly half of the university’s laboratories conduct studies on human subjects. The exceptional resources at The Rockefeller University Hospital allow our scientists to conduct clinical research that would be difficult to do anywhere else.