A new “Fast Path” program that will be launched this fall by LSU will provide some students a quicker route to a doctorate degree.
LSU’s Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department is partnering with the Health Science Center-New Orleans to offer the triple-degree program, which will be available on a competitive basis to highly qualified students. Students who are selected to participate will be able to receive bachelor’s, M.D. and Ph.D degrees one to three years quicker than is possible under a traditional collegiate path. That’s because the “Fast Path” program will provide students with faculty-approved course credits from the M.D. program that will count toward the B.S. and Ph.D degrees, LSU says.
“This innovative program will forge together two of the strengths of LSU—engineering and medicine—that will advance health care for our patients and create jobs for Louisiana,” says Dr. Steve Nelson, dean of LSU Health New Orleans’ School of Medicine, in a prepared statement.
The program also will serve as a platform for the development of a Biomedical Engineering Research Institute focused on translational research, which LSU says “would be a critical synergistic activity for the developing biomedical industry in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.”
The program will admit up to 10 students annually. To qualify for participation, students must have scored 30 or more on the ACT and are expected to ender LSU with significant Advanced Placement credits in math, English and some arts, humanities and social sciences. LSU has more details on today’s announcement.
