PHSCPHD - Pharmaceutical Sciences

Minimum Emphasis Units

36 (in addition to "Core Major Units" above)

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Drug Discovery and Development Ph.D. Coursework

A minimum of 36 units of course work in the area of the major subject including a minimum of 4 seminar credits, 6 laboratory rotation units, and a minimum of 8 research conference credits must be completed.  Courses in the Drug Discovery and Development program are listed under two different prefixes to the course numbers:  PHSC and PCOL.  All research and dissertation units are registered under PHSC.

• course: Intro to Pharmacology, Drug Discovery & Pharmaceutics (4)

• course: Principles in Drug Discovery, Design, and Development (4)

• course: Synthetic & Mechanistic Organic Chemistry (3)

• course: Proteins and Enzymes (3)

• course: Scientific Writing, Presentation and Bioethics (2)

• course: Directed Research (2 units per rotation; 6 units total)

• course: Directed Research (Track Specific rotations) (2 units per rotation; 6 units total)

• course: Student Research (1 unit per semester; 4 units total)

• course: Research Conference (1-3 units per semester; 8 units total)

Emphasis Elective Coursework

2 units minimum

• course: Current Techniques in Pharmaceutical Sciences (3)    

• course: Topics in Pharmaceutical Solids, Nanotechnology and Solid-State Particle Engineering Design in Drug Delivery (3)

• course: Faculty perspectives on Contemporary Topics in Drug Discovery, Pharmaceutics, and Molecular Toxicology  (2)

• course: Cellular Communications and Signal Transduction (4)

• course: General and Systems Toxicology (3)

• course: Drug Metabolism and Disposition (2)

• course: Epigenetics in Development and Disease (2)

• course: Cancer Biology (4)

• course: Advanced Topics in Cancer Biology (4)

• course: Experimental Design (1)

• course: Grant Writing for Graduate Students  (1)

• course: Practical NMR Spectroscopy (3)

• course: Mechanisms of Organic Reactions (3)

• course: Advanced Synthetic Organic Chemistry (3)

• course: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (3)

• course: Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy (3)

• course: Biological Structure I (2)

• course: Nucleic Acids, Metabolism, & Signaling (4)

Additional Emphasis Requirements

Students are required to attend a weekly seminar, consisting primarily of scientists from other institutions, on various subjects related to Drug Discovery and Development.  The students are also encouraged to invite one speaker each semester.  First and second year students do not present at the DDD seminar, so their grade will be determined by attendance only (refer to specific syllabus for grading scale). Students in year three are expected to present their graduate research project at the DDD seminar.  Students in year four are expected to give a presentation in the DDD seminar series covering a contemporary research topic in scholarly depth (inspired by recent peer-reviewed literature). Students who have chosen to participate in the BCP program are also required to attend a weekly journal club/research-in-progress seminar, in which they will present their work at least once each year.

ABBS graduate program members: follow guidelines and procedures as applicable.  Each first-year student must participate research laboratory rotations (course / course).

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

Drug Discovery and Development Majors - Suggested Minor Programs

One minor is required. Students may choose from among the following approved minor list. Other options will be considered but must be approved individually by the Executive Council and Chairperson of the Program (minimum of 9 units).

• Multidisciplinary

• Chemistry

• Biochemistry 

• Molecular and Cellular Biology

• Pharmacology & Toxicology

• Microbiology

• Molecular Medicine

• Cancer Biology

• Neuroscience

• Medical Pharmacology

• Physiological Sciences

Core Major Units: 18
Additional Emphasis Units (see emphasis requirements below):

• Drug Discovery & Development: 36

• Health & Pharmacy Outcomes: 53

• Pharmacokinetics / Pharmaceutics: 36

Required Minor Units: 9+
Total Minimum Degree Units: 63

Minimum Emphasis Units

53 (in addition to "Core Major Units" above) 

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Health and Pharm Outcomes Ph.D. Coursework

NOTE: Students entering the PhD Program without a completed pre-PhD Masters thesis must complete a MS thesis in HPO before proceeding to the PhD.  The qualifier process has been eliminated.

For PhD students, the major advisor and dissertation committee will help the student plan an educational program in which coursework is completed as quickly as possible.  Because of individual interests or conflicts in scheduling, the guidelines below present a recommended sequence of coursework.  Some courses may not be offered every year.  Consequently, in the absence of prerequisites, the student should enroll in courses when available to prevent delays in completing studies. 

Required Courses: 40 units

• course: Health Technology Assessment (3)

• course: Healthcare Data Analysis (3)

• course: Health Services Research Methods (3)

• course: Pharmacy Administration (1) - taken 4 times for 4 units total

• course: Patient-Reported Health Outcomes (3)

• course: Applied Health Technology Assessment (3)

• course: Independent Study (6)

• course: Basic Principles of Epidemiology (3)

• course: Epidemiologic Methods (3)     

• course: Biostatistics in Public Health (3)

• course: Biostatistics for Research (3)

• course: Advanced Health Policy Analysis (3) OR equivalent: course: Health Care Economics and Policy (3) OR course: Public Health Policy and Management (3)

Emphasis Elective Coursework

7-13 units* of electives approved by major advisor.

• course: Theory and Practice in Pharmacy Education (3)

• course: Poverty, Health and Law (2-3)

• course: Regulatory Science (1)

• course: Applied Biostatistics Analysis  (3)

• course: Data Management and the SAS Programming Language (3)

• course: Advanced Epidemiology (3)

• course: Analysis of Public Health Data (3)

 *Elective and minor units combined must meet a minimum of 22 units.

Additional Emphasis Requirements

All new students are required to attend the Graduate College and College of Pharmacy Orientations held prior to the first day of classes, regardless of funding source for their studies

Students must register for seminar course each semester.  Although only two units of seminar count toward the MS degree study plan, students must attend and participate in seminar each semester they are enrolled.

Each student is required to submit an Annual Report. The Annual Report documents committee meeting(s) held, abstracts and papers published, seminar and report presentations, honors, outside funding, and a succinct and lucid summary of research progress.

As part of the educational process, students in training will be encouraged to attend national scientific meetings as travel support permits.  Priority for travel support will be given to students presenting communications at national meetings.  Students should discuss participation in meetings and travel support with their Research Advisors.  Students may also apply for travel funds to the Graduate Programs Office.  The Program Office requires a travel budget and a copy of matching travel funding.

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

One minor is required.  Students may choose from among the following approved minor list.  Other options will be considered but must be approved individually by the Program Track Committee and Program Track Director.

Suggested Minor Programs for Health and Pharmaceutical Outcomes Majors

• Epidemiology

• Educational Psychology

• Marketing

• Biostatistics

• Economics

• Multidisciplinary

• course: Dissertation (18)

Minimum Emphasis Units

36 (in addition to "Core Major Units" above) 

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Pharmaceutics Ph.D. Coursework

A minimum of 36 units of course work in the area of the major subject including 4 seminar credits and a minimum of 4 lab meeting credits must be completed. All research and dissertation units are registered under PHSC.

• course: Pharmaceutics (3)

• course: Introduction to Pharmacology, Drug Discovery & Pharmaceutics (4)

• course: Topics in Pharmaceutics (2)

• course: Current Techniques in Pharmaceutical Sciences (3) OR course: Topics in Pharmaceutical Solids, Nanotechnology and Solid-State Particle Engineering Design in Drug Delivery (3)

• course: Pharmaceutics Research (4)

• course: Student Research (4)

• course: Biostatistics in Public Health (3)

• course: Science Writing, Presentation & Bioethics (2) OR course: Science, Society and Ethics (1)                              

• course: Directed Research (2 units per rotation first year; 6 units total) OR course: Introduction to Research (2 units per rotation first year; 6 units total)       

Emphasis Elective Coursework

Need enough units from the following list of electives to total 36 for the major. 

• course: Faculty Perspectives on Contemporary Topics in Drug Discovery, Pharmaceutics, and Molecular Toxicology (2)

• course: Air Pollution II: Aerosols (3)

• course: Interfacial Chemistry of Biomolecules in Environmental Systems (3)

• course: Analytical Separations (2-3)

• course: Applied Surface Chemistry (2-3)

• course: Physical Chemistry of Materials (3)

Additional Emphasis Requirements

Laboratory Rotations: Each first-year student must participate research laboratory rotations (course / course) The objective of the required laboratory research rotations is the introduction of the graduate student to research and familiarization with the scope and nature of the faculty’s research endeavors.   UA PharmD/Ph.D. students will be required to complete two (2) rotations if they have not done so during their PharmD studies. 

Seminar:  Students are required to register for course for the fall and spring semesters for their term of full-time residence in the Program. First year students are not required to present a seminar, so their grade will be determined by attendance only.  Ph.D., MD/Ph.D. and PharmD/Ph.D. students are required to present a seminar each academic year beginning in the second year until the final defense (final defense will be counted as a seminar presentation).  Generally, senior students will present in the fall, whereas second year students will present in the spring.  

Good Academic Standing:  A student cannot receive a graduate degree unless he or she has achieved a grade-point average of 3.00 or higher on all course work taken for graduate credit, whether or not the courses are offered in satisfaction of the specific requirements for a specific graduate degree. Satisfactory completion of the first two year's work constitutes passing of the Qualifying Examination.

Annual Report: Each student is required to electronically submit an Annual Report on or before June 1.  An email notice will be sent out from the Program Office at least one month prior to the Annual Report due date, for the student to fill out at:  http://gradstudent.pharmacy.arizona.edu/

Plan of Study:  Each student is responsible for developing a Plan of Study during their first year in residence, to be submitted in GradPath no later than the student's third semester in residence.

Individual Development Plan: Graduate students are also required to prepare and submit a written Individual Development Plan (IDP) as part of their Annual Report. The IDP allows the graduate student to determine training goals, needs for professional development, and career objectives to be presented and discussed at the Annual Committee Meeting. The IDP is to be prepared according to AAAS guidelines and submitted online at: http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

Instructional Service Assistant: Graduate students in the College of Pharmacy are required participate as an Instructional Services Assistant as part of their professional development and growth.

Proctoring: All graduate students are required to fulfill proctoring duties as assigned each semester through their academic career.  

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

Pharmaceutics Majors - Suggested Minor Programs

One minor is required. Students may choose from among the following approved minor list. Other options will be considered but must be approved individually by the Pharmaceutics Executive Committee and Track Director of the Program.

• Multidisciplinary

• Chemistry

• Biochemistry

• Pharmacology & Toxicology

• Pharmaceutical Sciences

• Materials Science and Engineering

• Cancer Biology

See elective coursework for emphasis below.

See additional requirements for emphasis below.

9+ units of a minor required. See minor options for the emphases below.

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.