About Us

The Department of  Pharmacology at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine offers outstanding opportunities in graduate education. Since the program was instituted in 1969, we have successfully guided over 100 individuals to advanced degrees, the great majority being the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology.

The graduate studies program in Pharmacology is designed to give qualified students a combination of didactic instruction, informal direction, and laboratory experience that will enable them to obtain a firm foundation in the principles, methods and contributions of pharmacology (defined broadly as the science of multiple aspects of the interaction of chemical agents with biological systems). With this preparation, graduates of the program should be capable of designing and executing high-quality independent research, and of assuming positions of responsibility within the pharmacologic community.

The department offers studies in the general areas of drug metabolism, molecular pharmacology, molecular toxicology, endocrine pharmacology, neuropharmacology, cardiovascular pharmacology, ion channel structure and function, and clinical pharmacology. Primary emphasis is placed on the molecular mechanism by which drugs act in the body and by which the body transforms drugs.

The facilities available for graduate research include 22 laboratories of various dimensions equipped with modern instrumentation and all requisite furnishings. Departmental research, office and conference space is contiguous, which enhances the likelihood of frequent interactions between faculty and students. Currently, sixteen faculty members hold primary appointments in Pharmacology. An additional nine faculty members are joint appointees with other departments in the College of Medicine and participate in department activities. Extramural funding in the form of grants, contracts and gifts exceed millions every year.  The National Institutes of Health have provided most of the external support. This level of financial assistance from outside agencies reflects the esteem in which the faculty is held in terms of research productivity and creativity.

The faculty attaches great importance to its teaching mission. In addition to core and elective graduate courses in Pharmacology, the faculty provides instruction to the graduate programs in Cell and Molecular Biology, Neuroscience and Genetics, and to medical students in the case based curricula. Considerable emphasis is placed on teaching in the laboratories, usually on a one-to-one basis. The Pharmacology faculty takes pride in its program, current students and graduates. Our over-arching goal in graduate education is to produce competent scientists who possess a wide range of skills.