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CLTRSCIPHD - Clinical Translational Sciences

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Health Professions, Sch ofGraduate Degree SeekingPHD - Doctor of Philosophy

Overview

Program Requirements

Completion requirement

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Completion requirement

Students must maintain a grade point average of 3.00 (letter grade of B) or better to maintain good academic standing, as required to receive financial support and to be awarded the Ph.D. degree.

Students must complete a minimum of 36 units of coursework toward the CTS major and at least 9 units toward the declared minor (or more for some minors).  All courses must be completed at the graduate level, and at least 22 units of coursework must receive regular letter grades (i.e., A, B, C).  A limited number of courses may be transferred from another institution with the approval of the major or minor faculty advisor, and presuming the courses earned graduate credit at the home institution with a grade of B or better.

A minimum of 18 units of dissertation must be completed in addition to the required coursework.

All curricular and other requirements for the Ph.D. are detailed in the CTS Graduate Program Handbook available at https://cts.uahs.arizona.edu/programs/forms.  Required coursework includes the following:

Principles:

  • CTS 500 (Fundamentals of Clinical Translational Science), 4 units; OR

  • CTS 555 (Cellular, Molecular and Neural Biology), 6 units; OR

  • CTS 501/502 (Principles of Clinical Research I and II), 4 units each; OR

  • CTS 610 (Principles of Surgery) or CTS 620B/620C (Principles of Medicine), 6 total units [postgraduate students only].

Biostatistics:

  • BIOS 576A (Biostatistics in Public Health), 3 units

Professional Development (min. 4 total units selected from list below):

  • CTS 595C (Responsible Conduct of Research), 1 unit/enrollment, taken in one Fall and one Spring semester; AND

  • CTS 585 (Individualized Scientific Writing), 2 units; OR

  • CTS 595D (Professional and Career Training Series), 2 units [post-baccalaureate students only].

Seminar/Journal Club (total 4 enrollments in any combination of the courses below):

  • CTS 595 (Biomedical Sciences Journal Colloquium), 1 unit;

  • CTS 696B (Biomedical Sciences Seminar), 1 unit;

  • CTS 696A (Medical Sciences Seminar, 1 unit [postgraduate students only];

  • Graduate seminar or journal club (colloquium) courses offered by other programs.

Dissertation:

  • CTS 920 (Dissertation), total 18 units across multiple semesters/terms.

Note:  Substitutions for any of the above except Dissertation are allowed with approval of the CTS program and the student's faculty mentor.

Completion requirement

Commonly used elective courses include:

  • BIOS 503 (Introduction to Statistical Analysis using STATA), 1 unit;

  • BIOS 576B (Biostatistics for Research), 3 units;

  • CMM 533 (Molecular Medicine), 1 unit;

  • CMM 535 (Genetic Medicine), 1 unit;

  • CMM 537 (Immunology Basics), 1 unit;

  • CMM 550 (Inflammation and Immune Pathology), 1 unit;

  • CTS 503 (Informatics for Clinical Research), 4 units;

  • EPID 573A (Basic Principles of Epidemiology), 3 units;

  • EPID 573B (Epidemiologic Methods), 3 units;

  • NRSC 572 (Neurodevelopment in Action), 4 units;

  • PATH 515 (Mechanisms of Human Disease), 4 units.

Note:  Students are not restricted to this list of potential elective courses.  Each CTS student works with their faculty mentor to select optimal elective courses relevant to the student's research.

Completion requirement

A CTS Ph.D. student must complete the following in addition to coursework and the dissertation:

  • A comprehensive examination on the major and minor;

  • A full grant application for research support (which may be submitted for consideration);

  • An annual progress report; and

  • An annual Individual Development Plan.

Completion requirement

The Graduate College requires all Ph.D. students to complete a doctoral minor.  The specific requirements for successful completion of a minor field of study are determined by the program in which the minor is obtained. A typical program of study includes at least 9 units of coursework, though some programs require more.  The student identifies a faculty member from the minor program who can serve as their minor advisor.  The minor advisor guides the student in developing a mutually agreeable minor program of study and typically also joins the student's comprehensive exam committee. Examples of some minor areas available to CTS students are: Physiological Sciences, Cancer Biology, Immunobiology, Biomedical Engineering, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Biostatistics, etc.

Alternatively, an additional specialized component of the CTS curriculum can be utilized to satisfy the minor program requirement. For example, CTS graduate students might take coursework in Applied Nanobioscience or another specialty area as a minor within the CTS major.  A student who wishes to declare the CTS minor prepares the Proposal for CTS Doctoral Minor with their faculty mentor.

Completion requirement