Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (OGPS) is dedicated to the goal of training a diverse workforce of biomedical scientists, scholars, and teachers.  This goal is realized through the support of various PhD programs and subprograms affiliated with the biomedical sciences, and the support of postdoctoral students training in laboratories of CCOM biomedical faculty. 

The overarching objective of the OGPS is to support training of predoctoral PhD students and postdoctoral scholars from diverse backgrounds, to become national and international leaders in biomedical science research, scholarship, and education. Our Biomedical Science PhD candidates benefit from the diversity of an umbrella program the Biomedical Science Program (BSP), a first-year pathway to matriculation into any of these PhD subprograms:  Cancer Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Experimental Pathology, Free Radical and Radiation Biology, Molecular Medicine,  Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and Pharmacology.

PhD candidates can also directly enter a Departmentally Based Program – Biochemistry and Molecular Biology or Microbiology – or one of these Interdisciplinary Programs – Genetics, Human Toxicology, Immunology or Neuroscience.

We are committed to training the next generation of critical scientific thinkers in biomedicine. Our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are these future scientists, and they constitute the research engine helping to push the frontiers of biomedical science.

The OGPS recognizes that the most critical factor in successful graduate and postdoctoral education is mentoring.  Thus, a core value of our office is effective mentoring, and we strive to support, facilitate, and incentivize effective mentoring.  We recognize also the core value of student-centric education.  For PhD students and postdoctoral students alike, the educational mission is student-centered and focused on training students to be tomorrow’s leaders in biomedical science, scholarship, and teaching.  A fundamental philosophical tenet of the OGPS is that graduate students and postdoctoral students should not be simply the biomedical workforce in CCOM laboratories; rather, they should be trainees.