WHAT TO EXPECT
DURING YOUR GRADUATE EDUCATION
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Brief Overview | Laboratory Rotations | Journal Club | Seminar Program
First Year Courses | Second Year Courses | Qualifying Exam
Dissertation Committee | First Author Paper | Dissertation Defense
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The Ph.D. program in Pharmacology is designed to provide you with training in Pharmacologic Sciences and thus prepare you for a career in modern biomedical research. Our program begins with two years of didactic course work, with the first year (as a Molecular Medicine student) including rotation through three research laboratories. By late April of the first year, you are expected to choose a mentor and declare Pharmacology as your degree department. During the second year of study, you will complete the required course work and prepare for the qualifying examination. You will be evaluated for Advancement to Candidacy based on your overall performance in the program. This evaluation will include your performance in course work, your research rotations, the results of your qualifying examination, and your participation in department activities. After Advancing to Candidacy, you will concentrate on conducting independent research under the guidance of your mentor and research committee. Your research will yield papers that will appear in peer-reviewed journals. The culmination of your research endeavor is a written dissertation that is defended orally before a faculty committee.
Throughout your course of study, you will participate in the weekly Journal Club and Pharmacology Department Seminar Series. This training experience will allow you to earn the Ph.D. in Pharmacology in four or five years. The Training Program provides financial support for all Pharmacology Ph.D. students in good academic standing. Financial funding is renewable as long as you maintain satisfactory academic progress toward your Ph.D. degree. This support includes payment of a stipend, remission of tuition and fees, and health insurance. Your progress through the program is guided at all times by a committee of faculty advisors and is reviewed at least twice a year by your advisory committee.
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The rotation consists of an 8-15 week period wherein you temporarily join the research laboratory of one (of about 90) of the mentors in the Molecular Medicine training program. Three rotations are performed in the first year of study, before choosing a mentor. The purpose of the rotation experience is to acquaint yourself with a particular area of research, a particular laboratory setting and/or a potential mentor.
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The Pharmacology Journal Club is an opportunity for students in all years to learn how to critically evaluate an important paper as well as how to present a seminar. Papers are chosen for their pharmacological relevance, quality of science, and novelty. You are encouraged to seek out help from faculty members with whom you have not had the opportunity to interact. Fellow students analyze presentations to provide feedback on how to improve future presentations. Senior students are offered the opportunity to present their own research.
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During the Fall & Spring Semesters, research scientists are brought in from Academia and Industry to give seminars on their research. Each student will benefit from the seminar series, as you will be introduced to different areas of research and will make contact with researchers from around the globe.
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Although there is some flexibility in the first year academic schedule for Molecular Medicine students, the following schedule is suggested if you intend to declare Pharmacology as your degree department. Please note that BIMS 832 (Graduate Physiology) is only offered in the Spring semester and is a prerequisite for PHAR 901 (Human Pharmacology). If you are considering Pharmacology as your degree department, then we strongly encourage you to take BIMS 832 in the Spring of your first year.
First Year Fall Semester Courses (16 credits total):
- PHAR 701 - Department Seminar (1 cr)
- PHAR 811 - Journal Club (1 cr)
- BIMS 503 - Biochemistry: Macromolecular Structure & Function (4 cr)
- BIMS 512 - Cell Structure & Function (5 cr)
- BIMS 811 - Gene Structure & Expression (5 cr)
First Year Spring Semester Courses (15 credits total):
- PHAR 702 - Department Seminar (1 cr)
- PHAR 812 - Journal Club (1 cr)
- BIMS 710 - Research Ethics (1 cr)
- BIMS 832 - Graduate Physiology (5 cr)
- Elective (3-5 cr)*
- PHAR 996 - Research (2-4 cr)*
*The Elective plus the Research will equal 7 credits total.
First Year Summer Semester Courses (6 credits total):
- PHAR 997 - Non-topical research (6 cr)
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By the time you enter your second year of coursework, you will have taken most of the core courses required of all Molecular Medicine Students (i.e., Cell, Gene, Biochemistry), declared Pharmacology as your degree department, and selected a suitable mentor. This year, you will need to complete any outstanding Molecular Medicine requirements as well as meet the department requirements for a degree in Pharmacology. If you followed the schedule above for your first year, then this schedule will ensure that you meet all degree requirements by the end of your second year. You may take your second elective in either the Fall or Spring semester, depending on course availability and your interests. The schedule below is for a student who is taking the second elective in the Fall.
Second Year Fall Semester Courses (15 credits total):
- PHAR 701 - Department Seminar (1 cr)
- PHAR 811 - Journal Club (1 cr)
- PHAR 901 - Human Pharmacology (4 cr)
- Elective - (3-5 cr)*
- PHAR 995 - Research (4-6 cr)*
*The Elective plus the Research will equal 9 credits total.
Second Year Spring Semester Courses (15 credits total):
- PHAR 702 - Department Seminar (1 cr)
- PHAR 812 - Journal Club (1 cr)
- PHAR 902 - Molecular Characterization of Drug Targets (4 cr)
- PHAR 996 - Research (9 cr)
Begin preparing for the Advancement to Candidacy Examination this semester.
Second Year Summer Semester Courses (6 credits total):
- PHAR 997 - Non-topical research (6 cr)
Advancement to Candidacy Examination is completed over the summer of your second year in the program.
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At the end of your second year of study, you are required to prepare and defend a qualifying examination. The Advancement to Candidacy Exam must be completed no later than July 15 of the summer following your second year of graduate study. Exam applications are due April 1 (in the second year, spring semester). The Pharmacology Graduate Advisor meets with all second year students in January of the second year (just before spring semester classes start) to explain the specific details of the qualifying exam and answer any questions that you might have concerning the exam. The PHAR 902 course format will help prepare you for this exam.
The Advancement to Candidacy Exam is comprised of two parts: a grant-style written document, or proposal, and an oral examination/defense of this document. Five Examination Committee members (three Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant Preceptors and two Pharmacology Graduate Committee Members) selected by you and your mentor will evaluate both parts of the exam.
The Graduate Committee will make the final decision concerning your eligibility for Advancement to Candidacy in the Ph.D. program. Advancement to Candidacy is based on your overall performance in the program, including your research rotations, coursework, participation in department and program activities, and the results of your qualifying exam.
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You will concentrate on executing an original research project under the guidance of your mentor and a dissertation research committee. Your dissertation committee must include at least four members of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GSAS) Faculty, one of whom will be your mentor and at least one of whom must have a primary appointment in a department other than Pharmacology. Graduate (or GSAS) Faculty is defined by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences to mean any faculty member listed in the Graduate Record. A list of current GSAS faculty is available in the online Graduate Record.
While GSAS only requires four dissertation committee members, we suggest that you consider having five members on your committee. Your dissertation committee must meet at least semi-annually, usually in January and June, to evaluate your progress. You are responsible for scheduling these committee meetings and for ensuring that the Student Committee Meeting Progress Report is filled out, signed, and submitted to the department office following each committee meeting.
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Your research is expected to advance some field of biomedical sciences. As evidence of this level of achievement, the Training Program expects that you will sign research papers, including some as first author, and these papers will appear in recognized, peer-reviewed journals. Specifically, the Training Program requires that at least one first author publication of your original research be accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal prior to your graduation.
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A written dissertation based on your original research contribution is prepared, presented publicly, and then defended in front of your dissertation committee. An integral part of your final exercise is the presentation of a public seminar wherein your work is summarized. This seminar will immediately precede the closed portion of the dissertation defense. All Pharmacology Ph.D. students and Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant trainees are required to attend the Pharmacology Department Dissertation Seminars.