MSc in Precision Cancer Medicine
Provided by University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division
About the course
The course will appeal to health professionals from a variety of backgrounds including clinical academics, diagnosticians, scientists and clinicians from academia and industry; bio-informaticians, statisticians and scientists and clinicians working in all stages of target discovery and drug development.
Precision medicine is an emerging approach which takes into account variability in the biology, environment, and lifestyle for each individual person to help guide disease diagnosis and treatment. In particular, genetic and genomic data allow us to go beyond conventional histopathological assessment, and classify cancer into distinct sub-entities, leading to novel molecularly-directed treatment approaches.
To realise the potential for precision medicine, the clinical development of diagnostics and therapeutics need to go hand in hand. Future leaders – whether in research or in the clinic – will need a broad understanding of the field and the ability to work with a range of stakeholders.
This course aims to deliver a broad overview of the scientific and clinical disciplines involved in precision medicine. You will cover the scientific basis for precision medicine, current technologies, drug discovery and development, and the global regulatory, payer and ethical challenges.
The course consists of eight modules:
- Introduction to Human Genetics and Genomics
- Applied Precision Diagnostics
- Omics Techniques and their Application to Genomic Medicine
- Clinical Bio-Informatics
- Treatment, Pharmacogenomics, Clinical Trials and Experimental Cancer Therapeutics
- Ethics and Health Economics
- Molecular Pathology and Imaging
- Onco-immunology and Genomics
The course will be taught using state-of-the art technology via the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE) platform, Canvas. Core and guest lectures are pre-recorded, and will be available for you to watch in your own time, alongside recommended reading and other coursework activities. You will attend regular online discussion groups, with a small group of fellow students, which will be moderated by members of faculty. For these sessions you will be expected to prepare short essays and presentations for discussion. Each module also has a moderated Q&A session and online tests for you to check your understanding.
The taught modules conclude in March of year two with a compulsory week-long residential school in Oxford, to consolidate your learning. For the final five months you will work on a dissertation. The aim of the dissertation is to enable you to explore an area relevant to Precision Cancer Medicine in depth and to develop a carefully considered and critical piece of written work related to this chosen area of study.
As this is on online course, you will need to manage your own study time. The scheduled teaching that you will be required to attend are fortnightly online discussion groups. To support your learning, you will be provided with lectures, required reading, and assignments for the discussion groups. It will be up to you to plan how and when to use these materials, and to broaden your knowledge by reading around key topics (known as ‘self-directed learning’).
This part-time distance-learning course involves one or two online, self-paced lectures per week. These lectures can be completed on any day of the week; however, students are expected to keep pace with the course, completing each lecture in the week indicated in the published schedule. Each module contains three live online tutorials at approximately two-week intervals. Multiple time slots are provided for each tutorial to accommodate students' time zones and work schedules. Students are expected to attend all tutorials, selecting the time slot which is most convenient for them. Students are required to attend the one-week Oxford Residential School at the end of March in their second year of study.
It is your responsibility to ensure your schedule allows adequate time to devote to your studies. Our support team for the course includes a full-time course administrator.
Attendance
The course is part-time. Part-time students are required to attend course-related activities in Oxford for a minimum of 30 days each year.
Resources to support your study
As a graduate student, you will have access to the University's wide range of world-class resources including libraries, museums, galleries, digital resources and IT services.
The Bodleian Libraries is the largest library system in the UK. It includes the main Bodleian Library and libraries across Oxford, including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, provide access to e-journals, and contain outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.
The University's IT Services is available to all students to support with core university IT systems and tools, as well as many other services and facilities. IT Services also offers a range of IT learning courses for students, to support with learning and research.
You will have access to a range of online support materials on study skills, which will include the University’s online course for graduate students on avoidance of plagiarism. The Careers Service provides a full list of online courses, which are complementary to the divisional skills training provision. They also provide advice on career progression and job
applications.
Other facilities and support are available through the Oxford University IT Services, Language Centre, Student Welfare and Support, Disability Advisory Service and the Oxford Learning Institute.
Supervision
You will be assigned a personal advisor from the course team, who will help you review your progress, and discuss any concerns you have; your course advisor and the course administration team will usually be your first port of call for any queries about your studies. You will also have an advisor at your Oxford college, to whom you can turn if you feel you need to discuss your progress, or anything else pertinent to your study, away from the course team. During the research project you will be allocated a project supervisor who will be responsible for your supervision and training. We would recommend arranging online meetings with your supervisor on a regular basis, at least every two weeks.
The allocation of graduate supervision during the research project is the responsibility of the Department of Oncology and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. A supervisor may be found outside the Department of Oncology.
Assessment
To complete the MSc, you need to submit and pass two pieces of written work, an examination, and the dissertation. Schedule of summative assessments that contribute to your final degree:
Year One
June: Extended essay
August: Written problem-solving assignment
Year Two
March: Examination
August: Dissertation
Additional information
Further details of the curriculum, schedule and assessments can be found on the course webpage on the department's website (see Further information and enquires panel for details).
Graduate destinations
This is a relatively new course, and the first cohort graduated in September 2022. It is expected that graduates will hold senior positions in a variety of roles, as clinical academics, diagnosticians, scientists and clinicians in academia, health services and the pharmaceutical industry.
Changes to this course and your supervision
The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made if a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency occurs. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.
Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.
For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.
College preference
Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs).
If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief introduction to the college system at Oxford and our advice about expressing a college preference .
If you are a current Oxford student and you would like to remain at your current Oxford college, you should check whether it is listed below. If it is, you should indicate this preference when you apply. If not, you should contact your college office to ask whether they would be willing to make an exception. Further information about staying at your current college can be found in our Application Guide.
The following colleges accept students on the MSc in Precision Cancer Medicine:
- Green Templeton College
- Lady Margaret Hall
- Reuben College
- St Anne's College
- Wolfson College
- Wycliffe Hall
Enquire
| Start date | Venue | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Oct 2025 | Distance learning | Book now |