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Neuroscience Program graduates should be as strong in biochemical knowledge, cellular and organismal physiology and formal statistics as graduates of any program in biological sciences. With this in mind, a basic Neuroscience Program Core Curriculum has been designed for all entering students, most of which should be completed with a grade of B- or better within two years as a prelude to doctoral candidacy. Students with deficiencies in certain academic areas may be required to take undergraduate courses. Credit hours are indicated in parenthesis.
MD/PhD requirements for students entering the Neuroscience Program
The MD/PhD program requires each student to take 9 credits of graduate coursework. For students joining the Neuroscience Program this must include:
1 Neuroscience core course (other than Neuroanatomy)
1 other semester of didactic course work (depending upon lab selected). (Minimum 3 credits)
1 research ethics class (1 credit)
In addition, students are required to attend the weekly RIP/Journal clubs in their department.
If the supervisory committee deems additional coursework to be necessary then the student will be asked to do this.
Otherwise all other Neuroscience Program requirements apply to MD/PhD students (except the supervisory committee, which must meet MD/PhD program guidelines by having one member from the MD/PhD Advisory Committee).
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Available Advanced Lecture Courses
Neuroscience Program students are expected to take at least two advanced courses (totaling no less than 9 credit hours; 6 credit hours must be graded) beyond the core curriculum in addition to any ongoing seminar course participation or special topics courses. The opportunities are extensive as the Neuroscience Program is an interdepartmental program. Thus any graduate courses (6000-7000 series courses) in the participating departments can be used to augment a student's training. In certain cases, graduate or advanced undergraduate courses in non-program departments may be taken with the prior approval of the advisory and Curriculum committees. The following are abridged listings of possible 6000-7000 series courses. There are many others available including 5000 series. Departmental Journal Club courses are also recommended/encouraged.
First year students attend weekly seminars covering various advances in neuroscience. During the Fall Semester of the first year, Frontiers in Neuroscience (NEUSC 6010) is presented by the faculty of the program, updating ongoing research in the Neuroscience Program.
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Neuroscience Rotations (NEUSC 6900) are the prime mechanisms by which students become exposed to working laboratory science and attempt to match up with prospective mentors. All students complete 4 half-semester rotations in the first year as part of their formal training and to find prospective mentors. Neuroscience Rotations are half-semester "laboratory" courses (1 credit), which translates to about 9 hours of laboratory work per week. Faculty may offer rotations in either or both of two formats: (1) A 1/2S-Rotation is the standard one half-semester format where the student will attend the laboratory for about nine hours per week in whatever format best blends with the academic schedule; (2) An S-Rotation is the condensed summer format where a student will spend five weeks in a laboratory, which converts to roughly half-time attendance every day (four hours).
Neuroscience Program students should select prospective rotations from the rotations catalogue and contact the faculty members offering them. Students may also find that presentations in Frontiers in Neuroscience will assist them in finding a mentor.
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In addition to the formal Neuroscience Rotations, students may also elect to carry out advanced readings courses or small scale research projects under any of the Neuroscience Program faculty at any time (NEUSC 7980 - faculty consultation).
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By the end of the first year of study, each student selects a thesis advisor (by mutual agreement with the Neuroscience Program faculty member) and at least three other faculty members to form an advisory committee. Together, the student and advisory committee begin to chart the remainder of the academic program and assist in preparing the student for the
doctoral candidacy examination. The advisory committee provides regular reports to the Director and Curriculum Committee of the Neuroscience Program regarding student progress.
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Students are admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree after completing the course and seminar requirements and passing a qualifying examination given by the advisory committee by the end of the second year of training.
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All Ph.D. students in the Neuroscience Program are awarded financial support (living stipend and tuition waver) for the duration of their thesis work, provided their progress is satisfactory. First year students are supported by the Neuroscience Program (The stipend amount is $25,000 for the 2008-2009 academic year). After their first year, students are supported from individual departmental resources, by graduate training grants (in genetics, developmental biology, and cancer research), or by research or teaching assistantships. Stipend levels, regardless of the source of support, are the same in all participating departments.
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