Curriculum

The PhD curriculum in Pharmaceutical Sciences is designed to provide a comprehensive education in the field, emphasizing drug development, delivery, and analysis. The program is divided into four main components: Required Intradepartmental Courses, Intradepartmental Electives, Core/Prerequisite Courses, and Extradepartmental Courses.

A. Intradepartmental Courses

Students must complete all of the following (10 credits):

Fall Even Years

• Pharmacokinetics - PharmSci 700 (2 cr)

• Biopharmaceutics - PharmSci 702 (2 cr)

Fall Odd Years

• Equilibria & Dosage Forms - PharmSci 701 (2 cr)

• Mass Transport & Chemical Kinetics - PharmSci 703 (2 cr)

• Analytical Methods in Drug Delivery - PharmSci 704 (2 cr)

Students are also required to take MedChem 660 (0.5 cr) for their first two semesters and PharmSci 838 (1 cr) for their first four semesters.

B. Intradepartmental Electives

Complete at least 6 credit hours of the following

• Nanotechnology - PharmSci 705 (2 cr) | Winter (Odd years)

• Biologics - PharmSci 706 (2 cr) | Fall (Even years)

• Cellular Drug Transport - PharmSci 710 (2 cr) | Winter (Even years)

• Pharmaceutical Engineering - PharmSci 717 * (3 cr) | Winter*

• Advanced Pharmacokinetics - PharmSci 760 (3 cr) | Winter (Odd years)

* PharmSci 717 will not be offered in Winter 2024

C. Core/pre-requisite Courses (may petition waiver if these courses have been taken in your previous studies)

Courses may be waived for students who have completed equivalent coursework in their previous studies. If prerequisite/core courses are taken during the graduate study and exceed 9 credit hours, the extradepartmental course requirement will be reduced accordingly (e.g., if 12 credits taken in the courses below during graduate study the extradepartmental requirement would be decreased by 3 credits resulting in a 6 credit extradepartmental requirement, see below).

Core Biosciences

Complete at least 6 credit hours of the following:

• Quantitative Principles of Pharmacology - Phrmacol 601† (3 cr) | Fall

• Systems and Integrative Physiology - Physiol 510 (4 cr) | Winter

• Cell Biology - CDB 530 (3 cr) | Fall

• Molecular Genetics - Humgen 541 (3 cr) | Fall

Statistics

Complete one of the following (3 credits):

• BIOSTAT 521 - Appl Biostatistics  (3 cr) | Fall

• Introduction to Probability & Statistics - Stats 412 (3 cr) | Fall, Winter

Differential Equations

Complete the following (4 credits):

• Mathematical Principles - PharmSci 580 (4 cr) | Fall

Physical Chemistry

Complete one of the following (3 credits):

• Biophysical Chemistry I - Chem 453 (3 cr) | Fall

• Chem 461- Physical Chemistry I - Chem 461 (3 cr) | Fall

ADDITIONAL DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Medicinal Chemistry 660: Responsible Conduct of Research and Scholarship in Pharmaceutical Sciences (RCRS). This course is REQUIRED for ALL graduate students entering the College of Pharmacy (this includes Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Clinical Pharmacy) and is designed to satisfy the requirement of many government and national funding agencies for a standard course in the responsible conduct of research and scholarship in the biomedical sciences. The course is designed to bring the entire research community of the College of Pharmacy together to foster a better understanding of the contribution of each discipline in the overall bench to bedside efforts of drug discovery and patient care. If the student has attended a graduate program where the student completed an equivalent ethics course the student may ask to waive this course requirement