The training program builds on current graduate programs in pharmacology, biophysics, biomedical engineering, biochemistry, pathology, anatomy, and microbiology. Students may be accepted into the program through any of the Medical School basic science departments or through the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Each of these PhD programs requires 64 credit hours for completion plus a qualifying examination, a dissertation, and a successful oral defense. Each of the programs has specific requirements, and individual programs of study for the PhD degree are determined by each student in consultation with a faculty advisor and the Program Graduate Education Committee. The training plan has been approved by the participating departments as fulfilling their requirements.
Students spend summers engaged in full-time research.
During the first year, predoctoral trainees complete four laboratory rotations of seven weeks each. This provides exposure to a variety of experimental approaches to the study of pharmacology. Trainees are encouraged to select rotations in laboratories that approach problems from different perspectives, in keeping with the fundamental goal of providing them with a broad and more complete understanding of research strategies that have been developed to address questions of pharmacological importance. Each student submits a paper summarizing his or her research experience, which should not exceed twenty pages of double-spaced text, including bibliography. The paper is written in journal format, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections.