The objective of MD-PhD dual degree programme is to produce well-trained research scientists who will lead India’s quest for self-sufficiency in the field of medicine and health.The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to offer a MD-PhD Dual Degree programme.This postgraduate medical degree will be awarded by SRIHER and a PhD degree by the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology of IIT Madras. Through this partnership, experts will concentrate on core clinical, interdisciplinary, and translational research.The objective of MD-PhD dual degree programme is to produce well-trained research scientists who will lead India’s quest for self-sufficiency in the field of medicine and health. The programme will be operational from the next academic year.Postgraduate students admitted to SRIHER through NEET and desirous of doing PhD will apply for the PhD program at the end of the second year to the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology at IIT Madras. The Department of Medical Sciences and Technology will follow established procedure to select candidates to pursue the PhD programme. “The MD-PhD graduates, who are known as ‘Physician-Scientists’ are very few. However, a remarkable 37 per cent of the Nobel Prizes in Physiology have been awarded to them. Physician-Scientists establish cause-and-effect relationships such as smoking and cancer and sugar and diabetes,” the official release stated.