Curriculum

2024–2025 curriculum

Term	Required Courses	Other Requirements**
Late Summer	PSPG Primer - Led by current students Statistics - Workshops will occur before the start of the quarter during PSPG Primer.
Fall Term	REQUIRED: PSPG 245A (Chun) Principles of Pharmaceutical Sciences – Pharmacokinetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport (5 units) AND Biostat 272 (Philips/Dufault) or BMI 206 (Pollard) Foundations in Biostatistical Principles and Methods (4 units)	Complete 1st rotation Racism in Science (GRAD 202) QBC Journal Club (PSPG 297) PSPG Student Research Talks (PSPG 220) Graduate Research Opportunities Pizza Talks PSPG Seminars (PSPG 223)
Winter Term	REQUIRED: PSPG 245B (Chun) Systems Pharmacology AND SELECT ONE CORE ELECTIVE: BMI 203 (Capra) Biocomputing Algorithms (3 units) Requires preapproval from instructor determined by computations skills. CHEM 244 (Seiple) Reaction Mechanism (3 units) BMS 255 (Nussbaum/Sil) Principles of Genetics (4 units) Requires early registration, please ask PSPG program manager PSPG 274 (Guo) Pharmacology	Complete 2nd rotation QBC Journal Club PSPG Student Research Talks Seminars Pizza Talks
Spring Term	REQUIRED: PSPG 245C (Ahituv) Pharmacogenomics mini course (3 units) AND SELECT TWO MINI COURSES (course list will be available in Winter)	Complete 3rd Rotation Journal Club Student Research Talks Seminars PSPG Retreat/Alumni Event Ethics
End of Spring	Advising

Additional year one requirements

Course	Course Information	Description
Ethical Conduct of Science	Grad 214 Spring 1 unit	Ethical Conduct of Science Course
Lab Rotations	PSPG 206 Fall, Winter, Spring 2 Units each, 3 rotations	Three 10 week rotations. A minimum of two rotations must be in current PSPG faculty laboratory, unless approval is granted by the program director.
QBC Journal Club	PSPG 297 Fall, Winter, Spring 1 unit	Journal club presentations by first and second year students in the BP, BMI, CCB and PSPG graduate programs.
Graduate Research Opportunities	PSPG 225A Fall, Winter (pending faculty sign ups) (no units)	Faculty-Student Talks

Mini-Courses: Three-week elective courses that allow for diversification of curriculum. Each student will take 3 minicourses in their first spring quarter, including the required PSPG 245C.
Advising: Rotations and Coursework must be approved by your assigned Academic Advisor.
Additional electives can be taken in the second year once the core requirements are met.
Other elective courses may be offered but require approval from an academic advisor. If interested please inquire for information on additional electives offered through other graduate programs.

Additional requirements for the duration of your time in the program

PSPG Research Talks	PSPG 220, 1 unit Fall, Winter, Spring	PSPG student research talks
PSPG-Research Seminars	PSPG 223 (zero credits) Fall, Winter, Spring	Research seminars presented by visiting scientists: All students attend. Students attend lunch with seminar speakers whose research or career are of interest.
QBC Retreat	Fall	Attend the annual QBC Retreat and present a poster or talk (advanced students may be nominated by their PI to speak). Goals: Improve presentation skills and facilitate collaborations with labs outside your main field.
PSPG Annual Event	Spring	Typically in the spring, student leaders will plan a PSPG specific event that typically includes a mix of science, career development and alumni interactions. All students are required to attend.

Year two requirements

Requirement	Timing	Description
Oral Qualifying Exam	Must complete by end of second year	All core course work and elective credits must be completed prior to taking the qualifying examination
Research (every quarter, year 2 and forward)	Fall, Winter, Spring 1-8 units
Teaching Assistantship	Summer, Fall or Winter	One quarter TA position in PSPG or School of Pharmacy; most students will TA in the Foundations course for the PharmD program which requires you are in town and available between July 20-Sept 8
QBC Journal Club	PSPG 297 (sign up as BMI 223) Fall, Winter, Spring 1 unit	Journal club presentations by first and second year students in the BP, BMI, CCB and PSPG graduate programs.
Grant Writing Workshop	BP 297 Fall 1 unit	Support for fellowship applications

Year three requirements and beyond

Requirement	Timing	Description
Advance to Candidacy and submit first IDP	Within 6 months following Qualifying Exam	Individual Development Plan (IDP) must be submitted at time of advancement. Refer to: Career Planning and Development myIDP
Annual Thesis Meetings, yr 3 and forward	On or around the anniversary of your Qualifying Exam	Thesis meetings are to be held at least once every 6-9 months following completion of oral exam. Must include discussion of updated IDP and planned career development activities.
Those who have not graduated by Winter of 6th year must retake Ethical Conduct of Science	Winter Year 6	Ethical Conduct of Science must be taken once every 4 years. Students in year 6 will take the Postdoc version of the Ethical Conduct of Research Course.

Requirement

Timing

Description

Advance to Candidacy and submit first IDP

Within 6 months following Qualifying Exam

Individual Development Plan (IDP) must be submitted at time of advancement. Refer to:

Annual Thesis Meetings, yr 3 and forward

On or around the anniversary of your Qualifying Exam

Thesis meetings are to be held at least once every 6-9 months following completion of oral exam. Must include discussion of updated IDP and planned career development activities.

Those who have not graduated by Winter of 6th year must retake Ethical Conduct of Science

Winter Year 6

Ethical Conduct of Science must be taken once every 4 years. Students in year 6 will take the Postdoc version of the Ethical Conduct of Research Course.

The expected time to graduation is five years. In order to graduate you must submit your thesis to the Graduate Division and give a Thesis Seminar. Extending time in the program beyond six years is subject to the approval of the PSPG Executive Committee.