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Background <p>Program evaluation is critical for ensuring that graduate programs remain responsive, effective, and aligned with the evolving needs of students, faculty, and the broader scientific community. At a major Canadian institution, we aimed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation to assess how well our program meets stakeholder needs and to identify curricular gaps and actionable recommendations across our biomedical and clinical research graduate programs.</p> Methods <p>A mixed-methods approach was used, guided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Program Evaluation Framework. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, and a focus group, which included a combination of students, alumni, supervisors, and/or faculty members. The evaluation assessed the curriculum structure, program strengths, and areas for improvements.</p> Results <p>The findings, when considered together, demonstrated that the student learning experience is shaped by numerous factors beyond course content. Synthesis of the results produced 26 recommendations in three main categories of factors, including course content and experiences, infrastructure and support, and faculty and supervisor engagement. In addition, we identified factors that enabled successful program evaluation, including overt institutional support of the evaluation process including commitment to establishment of a recurring cycle of implementation that aligned with other existing quality assurance processes, and establishment of formal activities to convert findings to actionable initiatives and to monitor progress for each.</p> Conclusion <p>This evaluation demonstrated how the CDC Program Evaluation Framework can be used to enable a systematic, data-driven process that translated stakeholder feedback into actionable recommendations to support meaningful program refinements in response to identified needs regarding program modernization designed to better meet new realities for graduate students. Ongoing evaluation will be essential to monitor the impact of implemented changes and ensure alignment between graduate biomedical education and evolving scientific and workforce needs.</p>

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Building a relevant biomedical graduate program: from review to reform

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月22日

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  • Lisa Eunyoung Lee,
  • Alaa Youssef,
  • Sobiga Vyravanathan,
  • Nicole Harnett

摘要

Background

Program evaluation is critical for ensuring that graduate programs remain responsive, effective, and aligned with the evolving needs of students, faculty, and the broader scientific community. At a major Canadian institution, we aimed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation to assess how well our program meets stakeholder needs and to identify curricular gaps and actionable recommendations across our biomedical and clinical research graduate programs.

Methods

A mixed-methods approach was used, guided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Program Evaluation Framework. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, and a focus group, which included a combination of students, alumni, supervisors, and/or faculty members. The evaluation assessed the curriculum structure, program strengths, and areas for improvements.

Results

The findings, when considered together, demonstrated that the student learning experience is shaped by numerous factors beyond course content. Synthesis of the results produced 26 recommendations in three main categories of factors, including course content and experiences, infrastructure and support, and faculty and supervisor engagement. In addition, we identified factors that enabled successful program evaluation, including overt institutional support of the evaluation process including commitment to establishment of a recurring cycle of implementation that aligned with other existing quality assurance processes, and establishment of formal activities to convert findings to actionable initiatives and to monitor progress for each.

Conclusion

This evaluation demonstrated how the CDC Program Evaluation Framework can be used to enable a systematic, data-driven process that translated stakeholder feedback into actionable recommendations to support meaningful program refinements in response to identified needs regarding program modernization designed to better meet new realities for graduate students. Ongoing evaluation will be essential to monitor the impact of implemented changes and ensure alignment between graduate biomedical education and evolving scientific and workforce needs.