The goals of this predoctoral Training Program in the Pharmacological Sciences at the University of Virginia are to provide rigorous training in scientific inquiry while imbuing each trainee with a professional, scholarly mindset. Our training regimen provides a broad education in modern pharmacology that includes fundamental aspects of physiology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetic and bioinformatics. The program emphasizes critical thinking and technical skills as well as oral and written presentations of experimental findings and ideas. A training grant Steering Committee administers the training program and oversees student progress through performance in course work, qualifying examinations, presentations in the Pharmacology journal club and written reports from semi-annual committee meetings. There are currently 20 trainees; we admit 3-4 new trainees each year. Training grant eligible students (24-36 annually) enter graduate school through an umbrella program. During the first year, students enroll in a core knowledge course and perform three research rotations. They choose their dissertation mentor and PhD program mid-way in their second semester. On joining the laboratories of the 43 Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant preceptors, they can be nominated for appointment to the training grant for their second and third years in graduate school. In addition to supporting Pharmacology PhD students, this training grant has supported students in the Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Pathology, Microbiology, Neuroscience and Physiology PhD programs. Training program-specific activities include courses in human physiology, general pharmacology, analysis of drug targets, bioinformatics, and the responsible conduct of research as well as participation in the weekly Pharmacology journal club. Non-Pharmacology PhD students are required to matriculate in one pharmacology course, bioinformatics and the Pharmacology journal club while appointed to the training grant and are strongly encouraged to continue this participation for the duration of graduate school. All faculty preceptors are tenure-track faculty with robust research programs. A plurality of preceptors have primary appointments in Pharmacology; the other preceptors represent ten additional academic units; five preceptors are active clinicians. Twenty-two trainees have been awarded the PhD in past five years and 15 more remain in training. Nine of these trainees were awarded individual predoctoral fellowships and our trainees have published, on average, three original research papers (one as first author) while in training. The time-to- degree of our trainees is 5.2 years. With this application for renewal of the training grant, we request continued support for five years (-44 to -48) for seven trainees yearly.
The Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant at the University of Virginia supports training of graduate students interested in Pharmacology ? a discipline that focuses on the discovery and understanding of medicines. Our program brings together 43 faculty members drawn from eleven departments in the School of Medicine, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Arts & Sciences to provide training in Pharmacology to trainees enrolled in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Physiology, Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, Microbiology and Chemistry PhD programs. The overall mission of the Pharmacology training program is to train a diverse set of students to become outstanding scientists and thereby contribute to our nation?s scientific workforce.
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