Students are required by the Graduate School to have a minimum of 51 credits for a PhD; 32 credits must be taken in residence before advancing to dissertator status. For the MDTP program, students accrue credits through coursework taken for their major requirement, minor requirement, seminars and research credits. All course requirements for the major and minor MUST be fulfilled ahead of the preliminary exam. Prior to the preliminary exam, students can enroll in 8-15 credits for spring or fall semesters; summer enrollment should be two (2) credits minimum. After the student achieves dissertator status, the student should enroll for exactly three (3) credits every term, including summer. See the Graduate School enrollment requirements for more information.
All coursework should be discussed and approved by the student’s thesis advisor and committee. Seminar credits do not count toward major or minor course requirements.
See below for more details on coursework.

MDTP PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
COURSE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR
Ten (10) credits are required for the major. All students are required to take two semesters of the 1 credit course, Current Issues in Microbiology (Microbio 810 and Microbio 811). These 2 credits may be used for either the major or the minor, with the approval of the thesis committee. At least three courses must come from the following list:
Course | Title | Semester |
Micro 526 | Physiology of Microorganisms | Fall and Spring |
MMI 528 | Immunology | Fall |
Micro/Biochem/Gen 612 | Prokaryotic Molecular Biology | Fall |
Genetics 620 | Eukaryotic Molecular Biology | Spring, even years |
Microbio 626 | Microbial and Cellular Metabolomics | Fall, odd years |
Onc/Pl Path 640 | General Virology-Multiplication of Viruses | Fall |
MMI/Bot/Gen/Pl Path 655 | Biology and Genetics of Fungi | Fall, even years |
Micro 657 | Bioinformatics for Microbiologists | Spring |
Micro/
BMolChem 668 |
Microbiology at Atomic Resolution | Spring, odd years |
Micro 710 | Microbial Symbiosis | Spring, odd years |
MMI 740 | Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis | Fall |
MMI 750 | Host-Parasite Relationships in Viral Disease | Spring, odd years |
MMI 760 | Quantitatative Systems Biology and Disease | Spring, odd years |
Gen 885 | Advanced Genomic and Proteomic Analysis | Fall, even years |
Note – MSTP students transferring into MDTP may apply MedSci 622-774 to fulfill two of the three required core courses.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
Students in MDTP may fulfill the minor requirement under either –
Option A: a full minor in a single department outside the major (e.g., Biochemistry, Genetics, Population Health) with at least 10 credits
OR
Option B: a distributed minor between two or more departments with a total of 10 credits. Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Microbiology courses can be used for minor credit rather than major credit, in the Option B minor. All courses must be 300 level or above.
Note – MSTP students transferring into MDTP may substitute their medical school coursework for their minor course requirements.
Note – students must declare their minor, including distributed minor, in the Graduate Student tile in MyUW before requesting their prelim warrant.

To complete the required 51 credits, remaining credits may come from additional coursework, MDTP seminar (required for six semesters) and research credits. No credit will be given for courses taken for pass/fail/audit/credit/no credit.