Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill
Graduate Training Program in Life Sciences

Welcome to Northwestern University's
Driskill Graduate Program (DGP) in Life Sciences

In 1990, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine established an innovative program of comprehensive, interdisciplinary training in modern biomedical sciences.  Known as the Integrated Graduate Program in Life Sciences, the IGP served for more that 20 years as an umbrella program for graduate student training in both basic science and clinical departments.  In 2012, Northwestern University received a $10 million gift from the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Foundation to fund student training.  In honor of this endowment, the IGP was renamed as the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Graduate Training Program in Life Sciences, or DGP.

Today the DGP provides each student the flexibility needed to design a personal course of study, pursue individual research interests, and choose an appropriate thesis advisor. The wide range of research opportunities within the DGP serves students well - both those who enter graduate school committed to a specific research field and those who begin with many potential interests.  Flexibility and ease in pursuing diverse interests are the hallmarks of graduate training in the DGP. 

To provide additional research opportunities for our PhD students, the DGP collaborates with our sister program, IBiS, on Northwestern's Evanston campus to sponsor the PhD Program in Life and Biomedical Sciences. Students in both programs can pursue coursework and laboratory rotations on either campus and take full advantage of the impressive array of resources available across all of Northwestern.  After the first year of coursework and laboratory rotations, students identify a dissertation laboratory and participate in cross-campus research clusters to facilitate collaboration and depth of training in their area of specialization.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Dual Degree - PhD and MPH  The DGP and the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine offer a dual degree program leading to the PhD and Master's in Public Health. For details, CLICK HERE.

Biomedical Informatics Track  The DGP and the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine have initiated a training program in Medical Informatics.  For more information, CLICK HERE.  Applicants interested in this program should notify Steve Anderson, Associate Director of DGP (sja314@northwestern.edu) at the time of the aplication.