About the Program

Our doctoral (PhD) degree program is designed to provide training for the next generation of scientists, innovators and leaders in pharmacology and physiology.

Students will engage in a contemporary curriculum including thesis research training in faculty-mentored research programs.

Alumni of our training program have advanced to successful careers in academia, industry, and governmental organizations.

Faculty Research Programs

Faculty research programs offer students a wide array of choices for thesis research projects. These research programs involve mechanistic and quantitative aspects of potential and established drug targets, analysis of normal and pathological physiological processes, and development of new biotechnologies for high-impact disease interventions through the use of state-of-the-art biotechnology and pharmacological methods.

Student thesis projects may include mechanistic and computational analyses of: cardiovascular biology; neurobiology; chronobiology; metabolic biology; immunology; membrane transport; molecular pharmacology of proteins/enzymes; molecular biology of hormones, enzymes, ion channels, & regulatory proteins; cancer biology; environmental toxicology; translational approaches; protein chemistry & structural biology; gene therapy; stem cell therapy; etc.

A variety of approaches from single molecules to entire organisms are used to study mechanisms in health and disease.

Student Research

Students conduct thesis research supported by faculty, and by departmental and institutional state-of-the-art biotechnology laboratory resources, including research core facilities, genomics, proteomics, gene array, bioinformatics, transgenics, computational biology, confocal imaging, fluorescent cell sorting, and cryoEM.

Small Student to Faculty Ratio

Our doctoral program has a low student to faculty ratio assuring personal mentoring and interactions to guide the professional development of each student to a career pathway tailored to his/her interests and strengths. Our students are among more than 350 other biomedical sciences graduate students within various programs in the College of Medicine which includes students pursuing combined MD/PhD degrees.

Students accepted to our PhD program for full-time studies are awarded tuition, health insurance and 12-month research scholarships or assistantships ($36,050 in 2025-2026). Qualified applicants may be nominated for additional stipend awards.

Excellent Graduate Placement

Our recent graduates are well placed in discovery research positions in fast-track career development.

Our former graduates have become principal basic and clinical scientists and professors with outstanding research programs in pharmacology and physiology: some in drug discovery, translational medicine, and science education; others in government agencies (e.g., National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration) as research scientists and program managers; and still others in internationally recognized pharmaceutical corporations (e.g., Eli Lilly) as directors of global research and development, clinical research programs and translation of basic research discoveries leading to new product development and licensing.

In addition, our graduates have found positions such as patent law, regulatory officers and medical writers.