Pharmaceutical Science (MS and PhD)

The post-genomic and Big Data era in pharmaceutical science is one of rapid and exciting change. Research avenues for pharmaceutical scientists—from drug discovery to delivery to response—are wide open, driven by the completion of the Human Genome Project, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology and Big-Data computational capability. At the forefront of this new era of molecular and cellular pharmaceutics is the graduate program in pharmaceutical science at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, ranked among the top programs in this field in the 2010 National Research Council (NRC) ratings.

Here students find a research environment in which competitive, funded, and cutting-edge work is conducted with a multidisciplinary faculty of respected scientists. Students learn the skills and knowledge demanded by the modern needs of our field, mastering the ability to both:

• advance current knowledge in traditional pharmaceutical science and
• integrate the great strides being made in genomics, molecular/cellular biology, and Big Data capability into a new understanding of pharmaceutical science.

Scientists graduating from our program enjoy a competitive advantage in pursuing successful careers in academia, regulatory agencies, and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Academic Programs

Rutgers’ graduate program in pharmaceutical science delivers the didactic coursework and research training students need to excel in our challenging field. Students may pursue a master of science (MS) or a doctor of philosophy (PhD) in pharmaceutical science.

• The MS program and  Learning Goals and Assessment is a 30-credit course of study requiring 24 credits of coursework and 6 credits of original research.

• The PhD program and Learning Goals and Assessment comprises 27 credits of coursework and 45 credits of original research including a one-year residence.

Our program focuses on multidisciplinary education by bringing together faculty from relevant disciplines across Rutgers. This approach enhances students’ training by utilizing the latest technologies at several levels: chemical, cellular, molecular, genomic, biochemical, and clinical. In addition, this interdisciplinary curriculum has the flexibility to be customized for the academic and research interests of each incoming student.

Interested students are encouraged to browse our courses, program information, prospective student, and admissions information.

Faculty and Research

Ours is a world-class faculty of scientists with diverse research interest, influential publications, and an impressive record of achievement. Among them are several fellows in American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), principal investigators of federally funded research projects, patent holders, journal editors and advisory board members, and winners of prestigious national research awards. Our graduate faculty, numbering more than two dozen members, is drawn from several Rutgers departments and programs, including pharmaceutics, chemistry, chemical biology, molecular biosciences, engineering, and more. Students thus have access to a broad range of research areas and the sophisticated laboratory facilities-and-resources that support them.

Graduate Study at Rutgers

The graduate program at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy offers many advantages to the student interested in pharmaceutical science. Our location in central New Jersey puts students in the heart of the northeast metropolitan corridor, with easy access to the academic and research opportunities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. New Jersey itself stands at the center of the pharmaceutical industry, with many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies having major facilities in the state.

Rutgers, one of the nation’s premier public research universities, offers a challenging and inspiring environment for advanced study. Our home city of New Brunswick is a health care hub, featuring the country’s largest health sciences university, two teaching hospitals, and many other clinical, research, and corporate health care institutions.

Students of pharmaceutical science enjoy a rich student life in a supportive community of scholars within the graduate program, at the pharmacy school, and across Rutgers.