VCUPharmacology and Toxicology
Virginia Commonwealth University
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Overview

View our Department overview presentation.

Background

dna helixThe Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology is part of the School of Medicine and is located on the MCV Campus in historic downtown Richmond. VCU offers a graduate program in pharmacology and toxicology leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. More than 210 scholars have earned their Ph.D. from our department since 1953, making it one of the oldest and largest in the country. With more than 40 dedicated faculty members and a department that ranks in the top nine of NIH-funded pharmacology and toxicology programs, the department offers a rich and highly interdisciplinary environment for research.

Indeed, our program is ranked first in the U.S. for pharmacology departments as contributors to their university publication record. Our students have won national and state awards for their research excellence such as back-to-back sweeps in the Virginia Academy of Sciences for 2002 and 2003.

The department is nationally recognized for its research in alcohol and drug abuse, cancer pharmacology, molecular biology and environmental toxicology. All of our doctoral students are supported for their graduate education with NIH training grants, fellowship funds and institutional support. The average duration of study for our doctoral candidates is 4.7 years – significantly lower than the national average of more than seven years – attesting to the efficiency of our program. A one-year certificate degree also is available (see Pre-medical Basic Health Sciences Certificate Program for more details).

Requirements

Applicants should have a baccalaureate degree in a discipline such as pharmacy, chemistry, biochemistry or a biological science. This training should include course work in each of the following areas:

  • inorganic and organic chemistry
  • calculus and the biological sciences
  • physiology
  • biochemistry
  • zoology

 

 

Virginia Commonwealth University   |   School of Medicine   |   Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
410 North 12th Street, Room 746, P.O. Box 980613, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0613   |   Phone: (804) 828-8407
E-mail: eishac@vcu.edu   |   
Updated: 01/09/2006