Pharmaceutical Sciences Ph.D.
Thomas Abbruscato, Ph.D., GSBS Senior Associate Dean and Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Sanjay Srivastava, Ph.D., GSBS Associate Dean and Chair, Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology
Abraham Al-Ahmad, Ph.D., Graduate Program Advisor
Laurence Wood, Ph.D., Assistant Graduate Program Advisor
About the Program
Click Here to View Program Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Sciences
Pharmaceutical Sciences (offered on the Amarillo and Abilene campuses) encompass all those areas of pharmacy research that pertain to drug design, delivery, formulations, therapeutics and immunotherapeutics, and biotechnology. The faculty members of the department exhibit research interests and expertise in drug design and delivery, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, drug receptor modeling, molecular biology, biochemistry, pathophysiology, immunology and cancer biology and therapy, and medicinal chemistry. The graduate program in pharmaceutical sciences is designed to educate students for careers in pharmaceutical industry, academia, and federal agencies including the FDA and NIH. Admissions requirements include a degree in pharmacy, chemistry, biology, or related areas. Teaching and research assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis. The departmental courses are listed below. For more information contact Teresa Carlisle, graduate program coordinator, 806.414.9329 or email teresa.carlisle@ttuhsc.edu.
Pharmaceutical Sciences Core Curriculum
Students entering the Students entering the Pharmaceutical Sciences doctoral degree program are admitted as rotating students. A rotating student must select an advisor by the end of their first spring semester. Currently, master’s students are admitted only as rotating students. They will complete two rotations within their first semester. Doctoral and Master’s students enrolled in the Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences (GPPS) will complete the core curriculum in two years (by the end of the spring semester of their second year). This curriculum was designed to give all GPPS students a unified and coordinated foundation that would serve as a basis for further study in individual disciplines within the pharmaceutical sciences. This curriculum is designed to accommodate both doctoral and master’s students who have declared interests in specific research areas. Core curriculum courses will be taken during the first two years, and include Biochemistry, Experimental Design and Biostatistics, Responsible Conduct of Research, Principles of Drug Action, Graduate Pharmaceutics, Basic Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Sciences Seminar Series. Doctoral students will complete the core curriculum with Physiology-Based Pharmacology. For more information please see the Core Curriculum Policy, here: http://www.ttuhsc.edu/pharmacy/documents/pharmaceutical-sciences/Core_Curriculum.pdf.
Admissions
Applicants apply on the GSBS application website, http://www.bioraider.com where they create an account and choose the program application and campus.
All completed applications received by the application deadline are reviewed by the Pharmaceutical Sciences Admissions Committee. Committee membership is comprised of six members selected by a nomination/election process by the program faculty.
A completed application consists of the following items: submitted application, unofficial transcript(s) from all U.S. institutions attended and/or course-by-course transcript evaluation from all international institutions attended, GRE, English Proficiency exam (for international applicants) at least two letters of recommendation, essay/statement of purpose, resume/CV, application fee.
Incomplete applications at the application deadline are not and will not be processed or reviewed for admission. No exceptions are made.
Committee members conduct a holistic application review. Members submit a rubric evaluating applicants on personal essay, letters of recommendation, prior research experience and work history. The numerical rating is compiled into a weighted composite score to arrive at a final admission score.
Select applicants are interviewed and after the interview, the committee discusses the applicant (which includes the application, required supplemental items and interview) and votes to either forward to the GSBS Admissions Committee or deny admission. Voting requires a simple majority of committee members present, and a quorum is required for a meeting.
All applicants recommended for admission are forwarded to the GSBS school-wide admissions committee for consideration for approval.
129-Hour Rule
Purpose:
To define enrollment limits sanctioned by the Texas Legislature and outline the process for doctoral students approaching maximum limits. Master’s students may not reduce hours unless they are designated by the GSBS office as “off-campus” students. Master’s students that are designated as off-campus students should review the guidelines under “semester of graduation” within the Enrollment section. Reduced enrollment hours may affect financial aid status and/or payroll FICA exemptions. Students are encouraged to check with financial aid and the payroll office before taking the reduced hours. International students should also check with the TTUHSC DSO to verify hours for compliance with the Department of Homeland Security. Typically, international students may only reduce hours in their last semester. Any exceptions must be approved and updated in SEVIS.
- Once a doctoral student has passed candidacy and accumulated 120 hours, the student may register for 3 hours each semester for up to one year.
Ex. 3 hours - Fall; 3 hours - Spring; 3 hours - Summer
NOTE: If student elects the 3-3-3 enrollment and does not complete the degree requirements within that period, the student must resume full-time status (9 hours per long semester).
- Students accumulating 130+ hours may be charged out-of-state tuition (full-cost) and forfeit any GSBS state-funded Research Assistantship. The faculty mentor will be responsible for the student’s salary once the student exceeds 130 semester credit hours.
- Out-of-state tuition may be waived for students exceeding 130 hours if those students entered the doctoral program with excessive hours from a master's degree. Requests for tuition waivers must be approved by the GSBS Office.
Qualifying Examination & Admission to Candidacy
For detailed information regarding the Qualifying Examination, see the Qualifying Exam Guidelines.
Dissertations
A dissertation is required of every candidate for a doctoral degree. The dissertation work must earn a grade of at least B in order to qualify the student for graduation.
Defenses may be scheduled at a suitable time after the dissertation (not necessarily the final copy) has been read by the advisory committee. Defenses should be scheduled during an active term and not between terms or during extended break periods. They are generally open to the public and considered open meetings. The dissertation copy is typically provided to the committee two weeks prior to the oral examination. The required forms noting the time, place, and other information pertaining to the examination are available on the GSBS website. The examination is conducted by the advisory committee and a representative of the GSBS Dean. All members of the committee participate fully in the examination and cast a vote. Faculty members other than members of the committee, including the Dean’s representative, may participate in the examination, but have no vote in determining the outcome. At the conclusion of the examination, the Chairperson of the advisory committee will send the Dissertation Oral Signature Defense Form to the GSBS Office, giving the result of the examination.
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences strongly recommends that each student be required to present and defend a dissertation proposal before his or her committee early in the course of the research. The subject of the dissertation must be approved by the advisory committee and the GSBS Office at least four months before the candidate’s proposed date of graduation. The dissertation must demonstrate a mastery of the techniques of research, a thorough understanding of the subject matter and its background, and a high degree of skill in organizing and presenting the materials. The dissertation should embody a significant contribution of new information to a subject or a substantial reevaluation of existing knowledge, presented in a scholarly style. The work on the dissertation is constantly under the supervision of the advisory committee and any other faculty the committee or GSBS Office may consider necessary. A copy of the dissertation should be presented to the committee members and the Dean’s representative at least two weeks prior to the defense.
Grading
Dissertation hours are graded with a CR except for the last semester in which a letter grade is assigned. At the instructor’s discretion, a letter grade may be assigned to the last 12 hours of dissertation. The letter grade assigned for the written dissertation and oral presentation/defense is based upon evaluation by committee members using the Dissertation Rubric.
Hours
Registration for at least 12 hours of 8000 is required for a doctoral dissertation. Once dissertation hours have begun, a student must be enrolled in such courses every semester until graduation unless granted an official leave of absence. Students may not enroll in dissertation courses before formal admission to a degree program by the GSBS Office.
Reference Manual
Students may reference the Thesis – Dissertation Manual. All manuscripts must conform to the published policies. The final copy of the dissertation must be submitted electronically to the GSBS office. Dissertations must be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 350 words.
GSBS does not require a bound copy, although additional copies may be required by the advisory committee. The GSBS Office recommends utilizing www.thesisondemand.com to purchase bound copies, however any bindery is acceptable.
ETD – Electronic Thesis & Dissertations
The final copy of the dissertation must be submitted electronically to the GSBS office along with the ETD Account Information for HSC Students. Detailed instructions for completing the ETD account information is available on the GSBS website. The GSBS will forward the documents to the TTU Library for archival on the ETD website.
Fees
Early in the semester of graduation, the candidate will pay the HSC Bursar’s Office a document fee to cover the cost of uploading and storing the dissertation to the ETD website.
Dissertation Announcements
Department Coordinators should notify all GSBS faculty and the GSBS office of all defenses at least 6 weeks prior to the defense for posting to the GSBS on-line event calendar. Faculty interested in attending the defense at an off-site location should notify coordinators at least 4 weeks prior to the defense so room arrangements can be made and TechLink or Zoom secured. Two (2) weeks prior to the defense, coordinators should prepare and forward a copy of the dissertation announcement template to all GSBS faculty and students.
