Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences

Our four years Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences has been designed to generate a new generation of researchers, who will shape research in Kazakhstan and on the international level. It addresses highly motivated students, who want to be part of a research community working on finding causes and treatments for a variety of different diseases. Our School has strong ties to the hospitals around Astana and is therefore in an ideal position as a link between bench and bedside. Our researchers are working on various topics among them cancer, and inflammatory and infectious diseases.

The program provides broad training in topics necessary for good research as well as a focus on one specific area you are interested in. This program will prepare you for a career in academia as well as in an industrial setting.

General information

• Campus: Astana, Kazakhstan
• Language: English
• Delivery mode: Full-time, on-campus
• Duration: 4 years

School of Medicine

Nazarbayev University’s School of Medicine (NUSOM) is the first school in Kazakhstan’s history to offer all of its programs in English, following a U.S.-style curriculum by collaborating with expert medical clinicians and biomedical scientists recruited from the global healthcare network. NUSOM was created to enhance the quality of medical education in the Republic of Kazakhstan and generate a transformative healthcare system that meets the challenges of healthcare reform in Kazakhstan.

NUSOM’s programs offer state-of-the-art technologies that transform our students into expert medical professionals. Candidates for the School of Medicine undergo a rigorous application process and are accepted at the discretion of the SOM admissions department.

Strategic partner

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA

Other strategic partners of Nazarbayev University

• Duke University, Fuqua School of Business (USA)
• The National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore)
• The University of Pennsylvania (USA)
• The University of Cambridge (UK)
• Colorado School of Mines (USA)
• The University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)
• The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA)
• The Oak Ridge Associated Universities (USA)

The Ph.D. degree at Nazarbayev University is a four-year full-time lab-based program according to international standards. It is offered within the School of Medicine and open to Master students of Life Sciences as well as MD students having completed a graduate program. The School of Medicine is in a unique position to offer this program as it has laboratory facilities as well as close links to the clinics in Nur-Sultan. This program aims to bridge the gap between basic science and medicine.

Students graduating from the International Ph.D. Program of Biomedical Sciences at the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University will be trained to independently conduct scientific research in the field of biomedical sciences in an academic or industrial environment. Biomedical scientists may use their knowledge of biomedical research to:

• Be part of a multidisciplinary team of scientists to solve problems of different illnesses
• Direct a research lab and conduct cutting-edge research
• Translate discoveries and inventions from the fundamental level to application in an industrial setting
• Manage and coordinate large scientific projects (national and international)
• Teach at national and international universities
• Work in government advising policymakers about scientific matters related to health and disease development

The core element of the program is a biomedical Ph.D. thesis. In addition, Ph.D. students are offered a variety of key competence seminars (see the section CURRICULUM for more information). Each Ph.D. project will be supervised by one faculty member with the project lying in his/her area of research. A second co-supervisor will be allocated to each Ph.D. student.

The Ph.D. program will teach you an important aspect of research such as grant writing, writing of papers for publication, giving presentations on your research, and getting ethical approval.

Assessment of your progress will be done via annual reviews and progress reports as well as presentations of the work at NUSOM and conferences worldwide. At the end of your fourth year, you will concentrate on writing your Ph.D. thesis, which together with a thesis defense at the end of the fourth year will comprise your final grade.

After having graduated from our program you will be able to choose from a variety of different pathways. Our main objective will be to teach you to become an independent scientist enabling you to work as a postdoc in national and international laboratories gaining experience to ultimately set up your own research group anywhere in the world.

This is, however, not the only path you can take. Scientists with a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences are also sought after by centers of translational medicine as well as pharmacological and biomedical companies. You can also go into the health services working in and managing diagnostic laboratories. You can go into academia and become a university professor while doing research at the same time.

Or you can completely change track, become an employee of the government forging future research in Kazakhstan or join the editorial board of a scientific journal. There are many possibilities- it is up to you to choose, which path you will follow.

Possible future employers are:

• Universities and Research Institutes around the world
• Pharmaceutical and Biomedical industry (Pfizer, Merck, Sanofi, Roche, etc.)
• Translational centers
• Government
• Diagnostic laboratories
• Scientific journals
• World Health Organization (WHO)