Yonsei University College of Medicine will launch a curriculum that allows students to build fundamentals and research capacity from the premedical stage to train physician-scientists.
Yonsei University College of Medicine said on the 11th that it will run a "Pre-PS (Physician-Scientist) advanced major" for premedical students starting in the second semester of the 2026 academic year.
As part of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "convergence-type physician-scientist training project," the goal is to establish a foundation for students to study basic disciplines in their areas of interest in depth from the premedical stage and grow into physician-scientists.
The advanced major will operate three tracks: ▲ quantitative medicine (Quantitative Medicine) ▲ biomedical science (Biomedical Science) ▲ social medicine (Social Medicine). Students will study foundational disciplines that can be linked to medicine, such as mathematics and statistics, life sciences, and social sciences, and complete related major courses offered by each Yonsei University college.
Track-specific subcommittees composed of College of Medicine faculty will oversee student selection, curriculum operations, and research mentoring.
Yonsei University College of Medicine plans to connect the basic disciplines learned in the premedical program to actual research in the medical program. Currently, in the second semester of the third year of the medical program, it operates a "Scholarly Concentration Program" in which students focus on research for one semester. Students explore research topics in laboratories and conduct research themselves.
Dean Choi Jae-young of Yonsei University College of Medicine said, "For physicians who will lead future healthcare, research capacity that understands diverse disciplines and connects them to solving medical problems is important in addition to clinical competence," and added, "We will strengthen the foundation for training physician-scientists so students can delve deeply into their areas of interest from the premedical stage and develop them into actual research in the medical program."