Overview

Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics Graduate Programs

The Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics offers programs leading to master’s or Ph.D. degrees in either of 2 areas pharmacology or toxicology. A Ph.D. degree may be earned in pharmacology with specialization in a number of subfields. The department is one of a very few nationally also to grant the Ph.D. degree in toxicology, again with opportunities for specialization in several subfields. Although a master’s degree may be granted in appropriate circumstances, graduate work is primarily for students planning to earn the Ph.D. degree since the broad background required for work in pharmacology and toxicology makes only the doctoral program appropriate for most students.

Because the emphasis in training students is to provide the broad background needed in pharmacological and toxicological sciences, the program encompasses a spectrum of the biomedical sciences. This includes participation in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences core curriculum as well as appropriate electives in other basic sciences.

Research areas emphasized in both pharmacology and toxicology programs are transporters, drug metabolism, hepatotoxicity, pharmacogenomics, metabonomics, gene regulation, nuclear receptors, epigenetics, pain, neurodevelopment, etc.