Special emphasis is placed on flexibility so the program relates to the interests, purposes, and needs of individual students. The degree generally takes about five years to complete. Students spend two pre-dissertation years completing course work in basic biomedical sciences and graduate pharmacology. During this time, students work on individual research projects during laboratory rotations. The objectives of the laboratory rotations are to give students an opportunity to develop research skills and to aid them in selecting the laboratory where they will do their dissertation research.
Students rotate through a minimum of two laboratories by the middle of their second year.
Degree candidates develop a dissertation research proposal, conduct their research and present and interpret their research findings in a final oral examination.