Academic Programs Overview
Professional Degree Program: Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)
The PharmD program at Rutgers leads to a doctor of pharmacy degree, the professional degree required to become a newly licensed pharmacist. Combining rigorous academics with intensive professional practice experiences, the six-year curriculum is grounded in the basic and clinical sciences with an emphasis on collaborative, patient-centered care. Students graduate fully prepared for the pharmacy licensure examination and are strongly positioned to pursue any of pharmacy’s exciting professional pathways.
Ours is one of the few 0-6 PharmD programs in the country, allowing students to enroll directly from high school. Students may also transfer into the program from other schools or with other earned degrees. See our admissions catalog here.
Dual-Degree Options for PharmD Students
Innovative dual-degree programs allow our students to begin study toward a second advanced degree while completing the PharmD degree, with most programs potentially accelerating the time to completion of both degrees. Only currently enrolled PharmD students at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy are eligible for admission to our dual-degree options for PharmD students.
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Graduates of the highly selective PharmD/MD dual-degree program earn a PharmD from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and an MD from Rutgers’ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Students enrolled in our PharmD program are eligible to apply for admission in the fall semester of the second or third professional year.
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Graduates of the PharmD/MPH dual-degree program earn a PharmD from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and an MPH from Rutgers’ School of Public Health. Students studying in our PharmD program who have taken at least two MPH core courses may apply for admission.
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Graduates of the PharmD/MBA dual-degree program earn a PharmD from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and an MBA from Rutgers Business School (RBS). Qualified students begin work on the MBA while enrolled in our PharmD program, applying in the fourth professional year for admission with advanced standing to RBS.
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Graduates of the PharmD/PhD dual-degree program earn a PharmD from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and a PhD from Rutgers Graduate School–New Brunswick. Qualified students with a strong research interest matriculate into one of our three doctoral programs at the end of the second professional year of the PharmD program.
Graduate Programs
Graduate study at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy brings together talented young scholars with world-class faculty mentors, in an exciting, collaborative research community. Our graduate students study under the umbrella of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, a division encompassing eight schools and numerous research centers, institutes, and clinics. Research teams led by our multidisciplinary faculty have access to collaborative partnerships and sophisticated laboratory facilities and resources, here at the pharmacy school and across Rutgers.
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The Graduate Program in Medicinal Chemistry prepares outstanding young scientists for careers that advance drug discovery through the integration of synthetic organic chemistry with biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, and computational chemistry.
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The Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Science is ranked among the top programs in the field, offering a challenging research environment where funded, cutting-edge work in molecular and cellular pharmaceutics is pursued in collaboration with a multidisciplinary faculty of respected scientists.
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The Graduate Program in Toxicology is an interdisciplinary research program with a long-standing mission to educate and train scholars in mechanistic toxicology and its application to environmental health sciences, balancing the duty to protect populations from contaminants with the need to develop new commercial products.
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The Master of Science Program in Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics, offered in partnership with Rutgers’ School of Public Health, is one of the few programs focused on the increasing need for highly trained professionals who can provide expert analysis and research in health economics and policy, including patient outcomes, economic modeling, and epidemiology.
Postgraduate Professional Programs
Our postgraduate professional pharmacy programs include both residencies, for pharmacists interested in advanced clinical positions, and fellowships, for pharmacists aspiring to specialized industry careers. These nationally competitive positions are open to candidates holding a PharmD, whether the degree is from Rutgers or another institution.
Postgraduate pharmacy residencies
Postgraduate pharmacy residencies directed by Rutgers are available in hospitals and other healthcare settings, primarily in New Jersey, and are preceptored by clinical faculty of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
Postgraduate fellowships
Postgraduate fellowships in industry, including with 20 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, are available through the Rutgers Institute for Pharmaceutical Industry Fellows, the preeminent program of its kind in the country.
Continuing Education
More than 1,500 pharmacists and other professionals each year choose Rutgers as their partner for continuing education in pharmacy. Offered throughout the year, our programs connect participants with experts who share unique insights in pharmacy and related fields. The annual Roy A. Bowers Conference, for example, has a 70-year track record of bringing together healthcare providers and payers as well as industry, government, and academic partners to discuss cutting-edge trends and specialized healthcare fields.
Our programs are fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, with the accreditation including special recognition for innovation in teaching and learning methods.
