Training Independent, Creative and Collaborative Scientists

We educate the next generation—those who will discover cures and advance science

How to Apply
 

About Us

The St. Jude mission—to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases—resonates throughout the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. We welcome students into four programs. Each program creates a pathway into becoming a scientific leader, an independent and creative thinker who can advance cures:

We focus on teaching basic scientific principles and connecting these to current scientific research. Our faculty includes basic science researchers, data scientists, public health leaders and expert clinicians.

“Our reputation for scientific and clinical excellence has been achieved by following a simple formula–hiring the best researchers and providing them with the best facilities. We used the same simple formula to create the Graduate School, which boasts a graduate faculty of internationally renowned investigators.”

Stephen White, DPhil 
Emeritus 
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

 

  1. PhD in Biomedical Sciences

    Pursue doctoral research with top basic and translational faculty. St. Jude has superb programs in pediatric oncology, infectious diseases, genetic and blood disorders, drug discovery and international medicine.

  2. MS in Applied Biomedical Data Sciences

    Develop a multidisciplinary skillset that allows you to lead and partner in biomedical research initiatives as a data science expert.

  3. MS in Global Child Health

    Learn to apply systematic, scientific and evidence-based approaches to facilitate delivery of timely, comprehensive and effective health care programs to children who need it most.

  4. MS in Clinical Investigations

    Gain the skills needed to not only develop and implement independent new clinical research but also to critically appraise the clinical research of others. 

Image of Marlo Thomas Center

Our Administrative Home: The Marlo Thomas Center

The Graduate School administrative offices are housed on the St. Jude campus in the Marlo Thomas Center. This educational center was built in 2014 to provide a space for researchers and students to collaborate, learn and work together.

The Graduate School has a total of 7,283-square-feet of custom-designed space spread across three different buildings on the St. Jude campus: the Marlo Thomas Center (MTC) on the first floor of the Kay Research and Care Center (KRCC), the Danny Thomas Research Tower (DTRT), and the Inspiration4 Advanced Research Center (I4ARC) first floor. The space in I4ARC contains private study carrels for first-year students as well as a dedicated classroom.

A student 24-hour activity center is located within the DTRT that includes seating, a kitchenette, video games, a pool/ping-pong table and large-screen televisions.

The Biomedical Library and Spaces for Meeting and Teaching

In addition to the Graduate School, the Marlo Thomas Center also contains an auditorium, a lecture hall, meeting rooms, a large atrium and the Biomedical Library. The library is conveniently located adjacent to the Graduate School, maintains an extensive journal collection, and provides easy access to over 11,000 electronic journals, 46,000 e-books and 70 databases. In addition, the library maintains an in-house collection of reference books and journals.

State-of-the-art videoconferencing capabilities enable faculty, staff and students to share ideas, discoveries and clinical information with experts and colleagues at other institutions. With more than 400 seats, the auditorium features folding desktops and outlets for electronic devices. The lecture hall seats 68 in a semicircle, giving it a stadium feel. The auditorium and lecture hall are powered by technologies that support the hosting of scientific conferences, academic lectures, institutional seminars, meetings and symposia.

Spaces for Conversation, Discussion and Brainstorming

Seating areas are interspersed throughout the Marlo Thomas Center to foster idea-sharing. Inviting colors and comfortable couches encourage small, informal gatherings. 

Additionally, huddle rooms and meeting rooms, which are distributed throughout the Center, are custom designed to support informal and impromptu brainstorming sessions and discussions. These rooms contain high-definition monitors, cameras and wall-mounted interface panels that allow users to control the technology settings and interact with remote participants.

  1. Mission

    The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. The St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences drives this mission by educating the next generation of biomedical researchers to probe the molecular basis of disease, develop novel therapies and train medical professionals to advance global health for children with catastrophic diseases.

  2. Vision

    A premier graduate school that promotes scholarship, innovation and discovery, and develops inspired graduates who become global and transformative leaders in basic and translational research, clinical research, or child health and health policy.

  3. History

    November 2015 marked the official launch of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Graduate School). This institution was designed to provide exemplary graduate education for the next generation of biomedical researchers. The graduate school represents a major milestone in the history of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (St. Jude).

    The training of biomedical scientists has always been a key component of the hospital’s mission, with hundreds of postdoctoral fellows, medical students, and clinical fellows annually contributing to ongoing patient care and research. Graduate student training has also been an educational priority, historically occurring through affiliations with other schools and colleges.

    St. Jude leadership recognized that the world-class faculty, research, and facilities at St. Jude represent the perfect environment for graduate training, particularly in the area of translational medicine. This idea continued to evolve over the years, and in June 2015, the Hospital’s Board of Governors approved the Graduate School’s establishment.

    The subsequent development of the Graduate School has been rapid. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) formally approved the school in November 2015; the Hospital created a Board of Trustees and Advisory Board and recruited highly experienced staff in 2016. With the infrastructure and curriculum in place, the inaugural class of 12 students arrived on campus in July 2017 to begin their doctoral studies.

    In 2018, the Graduate School began working with the St. Jude Department of Global Pediatric Medicine to design a new online Master of Science program in Global Child Health with the goal of creating agents of change by providing health care professionals around the world with skills and knowledge to improve treatment, care and survival rates of children with cancer and other illnesses. The Global Child Health master’s program was approved by Graduate School’s Board of Trustees in August 2018 and by THEC in January 2019. The first cohort of 10 students representing 10 different countries began their studies in July 2019.

    In 2020, the Graduate School began working with St. Jude clinical investigators to design an additional master’s program: a Master of Science in Clinical Investigations with the goal of training junior health professionals in all aspects of clinical investigations, including designing, conducting, and reporting results from those investigations. Students have the benefit of training in an institution heavily involved in clinical investigations for pediatric catastrophic diseases. The degree program was approved by the Graduate School’s Board of Trustees in April 2020 and by THEC in July 2020. The first cohort began their studies in July 2021.

    In 2023, the Graduate School began working with St. Jude faculty members in multiple departments to design a new Master of Science program in Applied Biomedical Data Sciences to train students to apply biostatistics, bioinformatics, computational biology and data wrangling methods in an ethically sound and scientifically rigorous manner to evaluate complex data sets to advance biomedical understanding and knowledge. The new Applied Biomedical Data Sciences degree program was approved by the Graduate’s School’s Board of Trustees in November 2023 and by THEC in January 2024. We will welcome the first cohort of students in August of 2025.

    The current goal of each academic program is in perfect alignment with the mission, values, and vision of St. Jude.

Organizational Chart

From Basic Science to Translational Research

Matthew Bell talks about his grad school experiences with his mentor, Stephen Gottschalk, MD, Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cellular Therapy chair and grad school faculty member. 

Explore Our Science

The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is authorized for operation as a postsecondary educational institution by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. In order to view detailed job placement and graduation information on the programs offered by the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, please see the Authorized Institutions and Data. 

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