2.5% of medical school graduates each year, but after graduation, account for about one third of all NIH research grants awarded to physicians. Many MD–PhD graduates also practice clinical medicine in their field of expertise. Notable MD–PhD physician–scientists Barry Blumberg – Recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Daniel Gajdusek for their work on the human prion disease kuru Francis Collins – Director of the National Institutes of Health and former leader of the Human Genome Project James DiCarlo – computational neuroscientist and Head of the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Alfred G. Gilman – Recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Martin Rodbell for their discoveries regarding G-proteins Robert Satcher – Physician, chemical engineer, and NASA astronaut who became the first orthopedic surgeon in space during STS-129 Vilayanur S. Ramachandran – Neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics David Satcher – 16th Surgeon General of the United States Chi V. Dang – Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania Christopher Duntsch – Neurosurgeon sentenced to life in prison for intentionally botching 32 surgeries that killed two patients and paralyzed two others Gregg L. Semenza Joseph Ladapo, surgeon-general of Florida See also Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Philosophy Biomedical scientist DPT-MPH Association of American Medical Colleges American Physician Scientists Association References Medicine and philosophy Doctoral degrees Dual academic degrees Medical degrees