1.07 MD Degree with Honors in a Special Field

Harvard Medical School awards the MD degree with Honors in a Special Field (cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude) to graduating MD degree candidates who have performed original and meritorious investigation and demonstrated ability, scholarship, and special knowledge in their research field. Students may submit an original thesis in any medical-related discipline that will be the basis for an oral examination. A student must be in good academic standing in the MD program and have a previously submitted and approved Scholarly Project proposal to be considered for the MD degree with Honors in a Special Field.

The MD Honors thesis must be distinct from any prior or concurrent graduate-level thesis (e.g., MPH, PhD). Students from the Cannon, Castle, Hinton, and Peabody Societies may write an MD Honors thesis based on their scholarly project research or other research. London Society/HST students may write an MD Honors thesis based on their thesis research or other research.

Thesis research should attempt to address a question that is worth pursuing and amenable to resolution by the student’s approach and by available technologies. The student’s role in the research should reflect a high degree of responsibility for the project and should demonstrate sufficient intellectual command of the research such that they would have a significant authorship position in any published work.

Students interested in writing an Honors thesis should speak with one of their Society Fellows to determine if their research meets these criteria.

All medical students scheduled to graduate at the end of the current academic year will receive an introductory announcement about the Honors Program in June. Interested students must submit a Statement of Intent to the Office of Scholarly Engagement by late September of their final year. The thesis submission deadline is in mid-February. Thesis defenses are held in March and April. More information and specific deadlines are available on the HMS Honors website. Students defend their thesis at an oral examination before an exam committee in March or April in person at Harvard Medical School or by video conference. Students are notified of their Honors distinction in mid-May, prior to graduation.

 

Once Honors candidates receive their Honors distinction, they may opt to submit their theses via the electronic thesis/dissertation system, ProQuest. A ProQuest submission deposits the student’s thesis in the online, open-access repository, DASH (Digital Archive of Scholarship at Harvard). Students may elect to embargo their MD Honors theses in ProQuest for up to two years.

 

Updated 11/28/23