Registration opens July 6, 2026 for the 2026 FCI (Aug. 3 through Aug. 20, 2026) and RCRCI (Aug. 24 through 27, 2026) courses. Both classes meet in person in Alkek N315.
Course Information
Graduate students in the Clinical Scientist Training Program take courses specifically designed for the program, together with elective courses that fulfill their needs.
Required Courses for both CSTP graduate students and Certificate of Added Qualification students are:
Fundamentals of Clinical Investigation – a three-week long evening course in August. (This course is also open to people not in the program.)
Responsible Conduct of Research for Clinical Investigators - this week-long evening course offered in August is a stand alone course in the responsible conduct of research and replaces the week of ethics previously offered during FCI.
The RCRCI course is designed for the early career scientist/clinical or transnational investigator, and will provide students with a fundamental competency and appreciation for the core topics within the ethical dimensions of biomedical research. During this one-week course, students will receive lectures from faculty with expertise in each of these core topics, to be followed by small group case study discussions illustrating ethics topics from the preceding lecture. This course meets the NIH responsible conduct of research training requirement. The RCRCI Registration Form will be available in Spring 2026.
Note: if you are registering for both FCI and RCRCI, use the combined form available on the FCI webpage.
Clinical Investigation for the Career Scientist – a year-long series of courses that meet Tuesday/Thursday, 4 - 5:30 p.m., with a strong emphasis on grant writing and preparing an NIH “K” or equivalent career development award proposal.
- CI 1: Research Development (September)
- CI 2: Research Design (mid-October to mid-December)
- CI 3: Career Development (January/February)
- CI 4: Research Application (mid-March to mid-May)
- CI 5: Grant Evaluation- (end of May to end of June)
Biostatistics Course: In addition, CSTP students enrolled in a degree program must take a course in biostatistics either at BCM or other TMC institution.
Electives
Graduate students may take elective courses through the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences or at any of the sister institutions of the Texas Medical Center, including The University of Texas Health Science Center (School of Public Health, Graduate School, Health Informatics School), Rice University, and the University of Houston (Graduate School, School of Pharmacy).
A few suggested electives include:
- ABC-Applications to Biology of Computation
- Computer Aided Discovery Methods (“Omics”)
- Introduction to Scientific Writing
- Drug Discovery: From Bench to Bedside