Doctor of Medicine

About the programme

The Doctor of Medicine (DM) degree has been redeveloped as a part-time, variable-rate doctoral programme of up to eight years duration, open to doctors employed in the NHS locally or by the University. The degree is academically comparable to a DPhil but the aim is that because research work will be in synergy with clinical duties, a DM student will be able to take significantly less time out from their clinical training. The rate at which research is undertaken will vary, depending upon the needs of the student.

All departments within the Medical Sciences Division will host students on the programme (except for the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences).

The interim Director for the DM is Professor Chris Pugh. The Medical Sciences Graduate School Office has day-to-day responsibility for organisation and administration of the programme.

Entry requirements

Students will be expected to have a medical degree and hold full registration with the UK General Medical Council. If the applicant’s degree is from outside the UK, reference will be made by the admitting body to the GMC advice on overseas qualifications. In addition, applicants will need to hold an appropriate contract of employment at the time of application at ST1 grade or above (including those who have completed their training) within the University of Oxford, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Primary Care within Oxfordshire or in an approved NHS Trust from the following list:

• Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
• Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
• Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
• Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

For a full list of entry requirements, please visit the Graduate Admissions' DM course page.

How to apply

For information on how to apply, please see the Doctor of Medicine course webpage.

The deadline of the next gathered field for applications will be Friday 23rd August 2024. 

Programme format

The DM will have the traditional doctoral milestone assessments of transfer and confirmation embedded within it. As this is a variable intensity programme, the timing of these may vary from student to student, but will be set at the beginning of the course, based on an agreed study plan. Each student will also complete a training needs analysis to enable relevant support to be provided to them for their research. It is anticipated that DM students will require less supervision than a traditional DPhil student and that meetings with supervisors may be either monthly or termly, depending upon the intensity of the study and the stage of the research.

The submitted thesis will be assessed through a viva, comparable to that used for DPhil students.

Full details of the DM programme format can be found on the Graduate Admissions' DM course page.

For examples of case studies comparing the DM vs a DPhil degree, please see this document.

Fee information

Given the variable intensity model of the programme, 75% of the total fee will be payable as a ‘registration fee’, with the remaining 25% payable at the time of submission.

Visa information

Applicants who would require a visa should already hold a Skilled Worker (formerly Tier 2) visa for their employment in the UK. If a DM student were to leave their employment while on-course, and thus cease to hold their Skilled Worker visa status, the University would be unable to sponsor a Student visa.

Contact information

Enquiries about DM study may be addressed to: dm@medsci.ox.ac.uk.

Information sessions

Two online briefing sessions were held in January and February. The slides from the January session aimed at prospective applicants are available as a pdf document.