All students admitted through the pharmaceutical and translational sciences program will take a set of foundation core courses, in addition to courses specific to each track. Students must complete all core courses (foundation and track-specific) before advancing to candidacy.
Accordion Content
All students are strongly urged to take a foundation core of classes and seminars (24 units). These courses are designed to introduce students to various areas of pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, mechanisms of disease, drug development and disease, a broad range of pharmaceutical sciences research methods, and to build a solid foundation in scientific writing, biostatistics, literature evaluation, and ethical conduct in research.
The core courses for all students, regardless of the track they choose, include:
- MPTX 502: Pharmacology (4 units, fall)
- PSCI 556: Principal Research Approaches and Scientific Writing (4 units, fall)
- INTD 500: Ethics and Accountability in Biomedical Research (or equivalent course that satisfies NIH RCR requirements) (1 unit, summer)
- PM 510L: Principles of Biostatistics (or equivalent course) (4 units, spring)
- Additional core curriculum – at least one of the following three courses from the MPTX, PSCI and CXPT tracks should be selected:
- MPTX 500: Cell Signaling/Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology I (4 units, spring or Fall),
- PSCI 665: Drug Transport and Delivery (4 units, spring)
- CXPT 609: Preclinical Experimental Therapeutic Drug Development (4 units, spring or fall)
Graduate students are expected to possess knowledge in various areas of pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, mechanisms of disease, drug development and efficacy. To reach the required 24 units of course work, the student can take more than one of the track courses, and any of the approved courses listed below, as well as other individualized program selected offerings approved by the program and the student’s advisor.
- CXPT 610: Experimental and Clinical Drug Metabolism and Transport
- CXPT/PHRD 664: Clinical Problem Solving
- MPTX 510: Topics in Pharmacology: The Other Side of Drugs
- MPTX 517 / CXPT 517: Clinical Trial Design
- MPTX 520: Toxicology and the Media
- PSCI 501: Drugs: Principles of ADME and Bioavailability
- PSCI 502: Drugs: Principles of Therapeutic Mechanisms
- PSCI 515: Drugs: Genetics and Pharmacogenetics
- PSCI 557: Methods in Chemical Biology
- PSCI 599: Computational Drug Design
- PSCI 599: Medical Marijuana and Other Legal Plant Medicines
- PSCI 655: Immunopharmaceutics
- PSCI 662: Advanced Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics
- PSCI 667: Intracellular Drug Delivery and Targeting
- RSCI 533: Safety Evaluation during Drug Development
- RSCI 603: Managing Complex Projects
The following are graduate courses offered for the Health Sciences Campus as “campus-wide” general courses. Any of these courses can be taken with the approval of the student’s adviser and applied towards the 24 units of required coursework.
- INTD 500: Ethics and Accountability in Biomedical Research
- INTD 504: Molecular Biology of Cancer
- INTD 531: Cell Biology
- INTD 549: Protein Chemistry – Structure and Function
- INTD 561: Molecular Biology
- INTD 572: Systems Physiology and Disease
- PATH 575: Frontiers of Pathology
The Path to PhD
PhD Year 1
PhD Year 3
PhD Year 5
PhD Year 2
PhD Year 4
Degree Requirements
Accordion Content
A minimum of 60 units of graduate course credits is required for the PhD, including coursework, research and dissertation units. At least 24 units of formal coursework are required at the 500 level or above, exclusive of directed research. No more than 8 units of 794 Doctoral Dissertation may be applied toward the degree.
Students must complete the first year foundation curriculum as well as course requirements for their specific PhD program track. Additional coursework relevant to the research interests of the student may be required by the student’s guidance committee or by the student’s faculty adviser.
A minimum of 12 of the 24 units is to be taken in courses in the student’s chosen track. Of the total 60 units, 36 units may be fulfilled with other courses, directed research and dissertation.
Teaching experience is considered an integral part of the training of graduate students. Each PhD student is given the opportunity to participate in the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) teaching program of the school. Most students will be supported as teaching assistants during their first two years in the PhD program.
All first-year PhD students are required to attend departmental and other scheduled School-wide seminars. Students who have passed their qualifying exam are required to present at least one departmental seminar per year.
Students will be required to pass a qualifying exam by the end of the first semester of their third academic year in the program. Before permission to sit for the qualifying examination is granted, all students must complete the 24 required units, with no grades lower than “C,” and an overall GPA of 3.0 or better.
The final evaluation of the examination is determined by consensus of the guidance committee. If a student fails, it is at the discretion of the committee to allow the student to repeat the examination within 60 days. The program has the option to dismiss the student from the program with or without the option of a terminal master’s degree after the first or second failure.
All PhD students, regardless of their chosen tracks, are required to complete an individual development plan (IDP) and a curriculum vitae annually at the end of each year of matriculation.
IDPs are intended to facilitate communication between trainees and their advisors. The student will meet with their advisor and the IDP committee to systematically identify training needs and competencies, establish goals and take stock of year‐by‐year progress during the PhD years, and to plan and prepare for their post‐PhD future while they are in graduate school.
The IDP committee is comprised of the student’s primary advisor (or program chair if the student does not yet have an advisor at the end of the first year), along with two other members from the student’s qualifying or dissertation committee, with the option of substituting one of the committee members with a professional from the student’s career of interest.
Each student must satisfactorily complete a thesis/dissertation, based on an original investigation, under the direct supervision of a faculty member. Presentation and oral defense of an acceptable dissertation is required for PhD candidates.
Course Catalogue
For courses in pharmaceutical sciences (PSCI), molecular pharmacology and toxicology (MPTX) and clinical and experimental therapeutics (CXPT), see the USC Mann School’s course catalogue.
For interdepartmental (INTD) and physiology and biophysics (PHBI) courses, visit the Keck School of Medicine of USC.