The MS in Medical Sciences may be used as a stand-alone degree by students seeking career enhancement in fields such as basic biomedical research, the pharmaceutical industry, or the health science professions; by students seeking credentials in the biomedical sciences as a preliminary to applying for medical school or other health sciences professional programs; or by students seeking to enhance their knowledge base prior to choosing a career direction.

The Integrated Biomedical Sciences (IBS) is an undifferentiated, first-year, core curriculum that serves as the entry point for six doctoral programs housed in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Students are admitted to IBS and, at the end of the IBS year, select their doctoral programs to pursue their dissertation research in one of these basic science departments: neuroscience, pharmacology and nutritional sciences, molecular and cellular biochemistry, microbiology, toxicology and cancer biology, and physiology.