The program offers courses leading to the master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees in pharmaceutical science. Most applicants have undergraduate degrees in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, pharmaceutical science, or other physical or biological sciences. Pharmaceutics areas of research include drug delivery, controlled drug release technology, design of new biomaterials, biopharmaceutics, metabolism, and percutaneous drug absorption. Degree requirements for the M.S. degree include a minimum of 25 credits of coursework and completion of an original research problem and thesis (5 credits).
The Ph.D. degree requirements include a minimum of 30 credits of coursework and 42 credits of original research. All students are required to prepare and defend an original research proposal. A residence requirement of one academic year must be satisfied, preferably after completion of most of the required coursework. For a more detailed account of degree requirements, courses, facilities, faculty research interests, and application procedures, please visit http://pharmacy.rutgers.edu/content/graduate_program_pharmaceutical_science.
The two major objectives of the graduate program in pharmaceutical science are (1) to further enhance our current understanding of traditional pharmaceutical sciences, including drug delivery, drug discovery, and drug development; and (2) to rapidly integrate the great strides that have been made in areas like pharmacogenomics and apply these advances to enhance our understanding of the interrelationships between genomics/molecular genetics and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics.
The graduate program in pharmaceutical science has been designed to provide the necessary didactic courses and research training required for the Ph.D. degree so that students can excel in this exciting and rapidly changing post-genomic era of the pharmaceutical sciences. The program focuses on multidisciplinary training by bringing together faculty from various departments and programs including pharmaceutics, chemistry, chemical biology, molecular biosciences, and engineering to enhance student training by utilizing the latest technologies at the chemical, cellular, molecular, genomic, biochemical, and clinical levels. This interdisciplinary curriculum has the flexibility to be individualized to meet the interests of each incoming student.