Program Structure

Upon Acceptance

The MatCH Program Administrator will contact the laboratories of the supervisors on the list provided by the student, and build a rotation schedule for the first semester. Rotations will be assigned based on preferences of the student and availability of the supervisor. Rotation schedules will be distributed prior to the start of the first semester of the program.

Once the rotation semester is completed, the student is to inform the MatCH Office of their preferred supervisor. The Program Administrator will then contact the supervisor to see if they are willing to accept the student. Students and supervisors shall not make any final decisions regarding laboratory choice until all rotations are completed.

New students are encouraged to seek advice for choosing their rotations. The Graduate Administrator, Graduate Coordinators, and anyone in the associated Departments are available to counsel students on any matters concerning rotation selection.

Program Schedule

Month 1 - 4	Months 5 - 24
Rotations	Choose supervisor; join lab
PAED 600	Begin project
INT D 605	Complete coursework

PAED 600 is offered once per year in the Fall semester, and if students are admitted in Winter they will complete it the following Fall. Once a supervisor is chosen, students will be registered in the supervisor's department and follow its requirements for degree completion. MSc programs are expected to take two to three years and PhD programs four to five years.

INT D 605: An interdisciplinary course for graduate students who are enrolled in the MatCH Scholarship Program to gain experience in quantitative or qualitative biomedical and clinical research settings. The course will involve three rotations of 4 to 6 weeks each in different laboratory settings within the Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology or Medical Genetics. Student will also attend the general seminar series of each Department once per month, a total of three per month. Students will be graded (CR/NC) based on participation and written assignments based on each rotation.

Failure to Find a Permanent Lab

If a student is unable to find a permanent thesis supervisor after three rotations, they may be required to withdraw from the program. Admission to the MatCH program does not guarantee that a student will be accepted into a laboratory for thesis work. However, it is extremely rare for an accepted student to fail to find a suitable laboratory to join.

International/Visa Student Rotations

Although international ("visa") students are required to list a supervisor on their visa applications, this arrangement is not final. Visa students are required to do the same number of rotations as non-visa students, and they are free to join a laboratory other than that of their sponsor. In sponsoring visa students, however, faculty members make a commitment to accept those students into their laboratories if the student wishes to join after completing the mandatory rotations. Once a permanent laboratory is chosen, the procedures for visa students are identical to those for non-visa students.