Graduate Program

The purpose of biomedical engineering as a research discipline is to discover new physical and mathematical concepts that are applicable to the problems of biology and medicine, including the organization of health care. Biomedical engineering is concerned with the integrative and mathematical approach to biology and also with more pragmatic problems such as the biomedical use of information systems and the development of advanced biomedical instrumentation.

The Graduate School of Vanderbilt University, in collaboration with the Schools of Engineering and Medicine, offers Master of Engineering, Master of Science  and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with a major in Biomedical Engineering. The  goal of the Vanderbilt program is to provide advanced education and research training in quantitative organ and cellular biology, in biomedical information and instrumentation systems, imaging and in the scientific principles underlying the origination of therapeutic devices and processes. It is specifically concerned with the interface between the engineering, physical, computing and mathematical sciences, and biology.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering is in the School of Engineering. In addition to the M.Eng., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, the faculty supervises an ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accredited B.E. degree program in biomedical engineering for undergraduate students. The department also participates in the  M.D./Ph.D. program with the School of Medicine. Eleven faculty members with primary appointments elsewhere collaborate with the graduate program. Many faculty members hold joint appointments with Engineering School and Medical School departments.

Application to the MD program is through AMCAS
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/start.htm

Info on application for PhD portion of MD/PhD in BME program
http://bret.mc.vanderbilt.edu/mstp/php_files/application.php

The School of Medicine and University Hospital are located on the same campus as the School of Engineering, less than one block away.  This close proximity facilitates a wide variety of collaborative efforts between faculty and students in the two schools.

• Procedures for selecting PhD committees, Qualifying Examinations and Final Defenses       [MS Word*]   [PDF*]
• Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
• Admission Standards*: [MS Word document] [PDF document]
• Graduate Brochure (under construction)
• Email:
• Degree Requirements and Curriculum
• Graduate Contacts
• Regulations of the Graduate Program in BME¹
• Guidelines for Graduate Student Research¹
• Facilities
• Faculty
• Summary of Biomedical Engineering Research
• Graduate Student Handbook (under construction)
• Course Catalog*
• School of Engineering Graduate Program information*

¹  Password protected, (username=vanderbilt\[vunetid]; pw=epassword)
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