Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology
The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) is a unique interdisciplinary program providing students with deep understanding in engineering and the physical and biological sciences, with hands-on, practical experience in the medical industry. Our more than 400 graduate students become conversant with the underlying quantitative and molecular aspects of medicine and biomedical science and work closely with faculty at MIT and Harvard.
Founded more than 35 years ago, HST is one of the oldest and largest biomedical engineering and physician-scientist training programs in the U.S. It is also the longest-standing collaboration between Harvard and MIT. We have an outstanding record of accomplishment in healthcare research, helping to not only bring innovation from the laboratory bench to the patients’ bedside but also to bring clinical insight from the bedside to the bench. We collaborate with government agencies, nonprofits, corporations, and educational institutions, including the National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Pfizer, Inc.
HST offers eight options for graduate study:
Master’s Programs
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Biomedical Enterprise Program
This program prepares students to lead the transfer of new healthcare technologies from concept to product development to clinical adoption. Students take preclinical and engineering courses with other HST students and business courses at Sloan. They learn how to address the needs of starting, growing, and managing a biomedical enterprise, and they complete a hands-on hospital-based clinical experience paired with a physician-scientist. Individuals who need training in both management and science pursue an SM from HST and either an MBA or SM from Sloan, while individuals who have already earned a graduate degree in management pursue an SM from HST.
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Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering
This five-year degree program is of particular value to students interested in using biomedical engineering to understand disease processes in the post-genomic era. The curriculum emphasizes engineering applications in systems physiology and clinical medicine and prepares students for leadership positions in the medical products, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries. Students earn a bachelor’s degree in a science or engineering discipline and a Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering. The program is open only to current MIT undergraduates.
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Master of Health Sciences and Technology
HST offers a general master's degree program that can be coupled to other HST degree programs, such as the MD degree described below. To accommodate a wide range of student interests, the curriculum for the Master of Health Sciences and Technology degree is determined by agreement between the student and his or her advisor, and approval by HST's Graduate Committee. There are no specific requirements other than the Institute requirement for 66 subject units and a thesis. In each case, the Institute requirement for the master's degree must be satisfied.
Doctoral Programs
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Medical Engineering and Medical Physics
This five- to seven–year program leads to a PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics awarded by MIT or the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. As engineers and physical scientists with extensive knowledge in the medical sciences, graduates of this program are well positioned to define new questions and formulate novel approaches in biomedical research. The curriculum includes three phases that prepare students to be medical innovators who will advance human health: a thorough graduate education in a classical discipline of engineering or physical science, preclinical coursework followed by a series of clinical experiences, and individualized research projects that prepare students to perform independent research. Areas of specialization include bioinformatics and integrative genomics, neuroimaging, and bioastronautics.
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Medical Sciences
This program, which leads to the MD degree from Harvard Medical School, is designed for students with a strong interest and background in quantitative science, especially in the biological, physical, engineering, and chemical sciences. The subjects in human biology developed for this curriculum represent the joint efforts of life scientists, physicians, physical scientists, and engineers from the faculties of Harvard and MIT. Students are encouraged to pursue advanced study in subjects of personal interest and may combine the MD with a master’s or doctoral degree. MD students are required to complete a thesis.
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Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology
This five- to seven-year program, which leads to a PhD in speech and hearing bioscience and technology from MIT, acquaints students with the field of speech and hearing and helps them develop specialized knowledge in a particular research approach. It is the only program of its type in the country and the only doctoral training program in this field funded by the National Institutes of Health. Resources include more than 50 participating faculty members representing 10 academic departments within Harvard and MIT, and research facilities at MIT, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School and its affiliated teaching hospitals, and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Training Programs
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Biomedical Informatics Program
This predoctoral and postdoctoral training program focuses on the cognitive, information-processing, and communication tasks of medical practice, education, and research. It draws together traditional medical disciplines, computer science and technology, biostatistics, epidemiology, decision sciences, and health care policy and management. In addition to clinical practice, areas of emphasis include bioinformatics and informatics related to health services research. Training options include:
- Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics from HST
- PhD in Computer Science from MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- PhD in Health Decision Science from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health
- Research fellowship training at biomedical informatics laboratories in Boston-area hospitals carried out in conjunction with the HST biomedical informatics master’s program
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Clinical Investigator Training Program
This two-year program trains postdoctoral physicians from various clinical disciplines in the techniques and processes used in patient-oriented research. Students gain experience performing clinical investigation while, simultaneously through didactic course work, developing a strong foundation in computational and statistical sciences, biomedical ethics, principles of clinical pharmacology, in vitro and in vivo measurement techniques, and various aspects of the drug development process. The program is a cooperative effort among HST, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Pfizer, Inc.
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Graduate Education in Medical Sciences Certificate Program
This part-time certificate program exposes students to the biomedical and clinical sciences, including translational medicine, and addresses a national problem articulated by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute: the growing gap between advances in basic biology and the translation of those advances into medically relevant therapies and tools for the improvement of human health. The program trains select PhD students to bridge the widening chasm between concept and functional execution with a supplementary curriculum that entails a human pathology course, a medical pathophysiology course, an individualized clinical experience, a seminar showcasing examples of translation, and a graduate seminar focusing on the professional skills needed to succeed in interdisciplinary research.
