The University of California, Irvine(UCI), through its Medical Scientist Training Program(MSTP), offers a dual track for earning the MD and PhD degrees to exceptionally well qualified students who wish to pursue research careers in the biomedical sciences. The program combines educational experiences in clinical disciplines and in basic medical research, culminating in both an MD degree from the School of Medicine and a PhD degree from one of the participating graduate programs. The aim of this program is to train medical scientists who will use research for the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Students who complete the program will be well prepared to assume leadership roles in the medical sciences.  Medical research today involves a difficult balancing of two careers -- providing state of the art medical care, and making new discoveries that utilize cutting edge research approaches from a wide variety of fields. As medicine becomes more specialized and complex, future progress requires the incorporation of advances made almost daily in the laboratory. This poses a dilemma for the practicing physician, who has neither the time nor the training to critically evaluate the most recent results coming out of research labs. The purpose of the UC Irvine Medical Scientist Training Program is to train individuals who can understand and contribute to advances in research, and can also apply those advances to the field of medical care. The combination of clinical training leading to the MD degree with research training leading to the PhD degree is a way to educate scientists who can apply laboratory results to the problems of clinical medicine.