The Clinical Track (Clinical Neuroscience)

Our new groundbreaking program, the first of its kind in Israel, started in 2016. This program is intended for students who are interested in combining basic research and clinical research in the field of nervous system diseases. Our program is unique in permitting students to have unmediated contact in hospitals with doctors and patients in neurological wards and to learn about potential treatment strategies. Research may be conducted at hospitals or in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, at the instruction of a faculty member on campus.

In the framework of this program, students will acquire a deeper understanding of nervous system diseases and methods of clinical research. They will be introduced to clinical methods, neurological diseases, and tools for checking and monitoring disorders. As part of their training, students will meet patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases of different profiles. These encounters with patients, at various stages of illness, will permit students a deeper understanding of the field, which will help them plan and conduct future research.

The program is divided into two interconnected sections:

• Theoretical section, in which students acquire theoretical knowledge in the field of neuroscience in general and in clinical research in particular;
• Practical section, in which students personally meet patients and doctors.

Studies for a university-approved degree on the clinical track

The program for a university-approved degree lasts four semesters.

• At the beginning of the program, students must choose a supervisor from the Sagol School’s academic faculty at the Tel Aviv University campus;
• By the end of the first year, students must decide whether they wish to add another supervisor, a Tel Aviv University faculty member at the rank of senior lecturer or higher, from one of the university-affiliated hospitals, and must receive the written approval of their supervisor/supervisors for the subject of their final thesis;
• Students can finish auditing their courses in three semesters and present their final thesis at the end of the fourth semester;
• If students must complete supplementary classes in the framework of the course prerequisites, the studies will be conducted as remedial courses.

Structure of the program

• Course length: two years;
• Scope of the program: 30 semester hours;
• Exemptions from core modules will be granted on the basis of previous studies but comparable elective courses will be studied instead;
• For the duration of the program, students will participate in and present to seminars and annual meetings;
• In the first year, students on the program will spend one day a week at hospitals affiliated with Tel Aviv University.

Progression criteria

• Progressing to the second year is conditional on receiving an average grade of at least 85;
• Students will offered to progress directly to PhD studies in neuroscience immediately at the end of the first year;
• Conditions for going straight to the PhD track: students must complete at least 20 semester hours during their first year with an average grade of at least 90 and to pass aptitude tests to progress directly to a PhD in Neuroscience.