Office / Building: Skaggs Hall
Mailing Address: 30 South 2000 East, Room 301, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Office Hours: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Website URL: https://pharmacy.utah.edu/pharmaceutics
Department Main Phone: 801-581-7831
Department Main Email: ruby.steele@pharm.utah.edu
Department Chair: Hamid Ghandehari, Ph.D.
Graduate Director: James Herron, Ph.D.
Mission Statement
The Department of Molecular Pharmaceutics offers a Ph.D. degree program through the Graduate School of the University of Utah. The program seeks to prepare graduate students to function independently, competently and technically in a variety of settings including academic, research, administrative, business management, legal, regulatory and investment career tracks.
Overview
The Department of Molecular Pharmaceutics emphasizes fundamental understanding in the physical, chemical, and biological processes of drug-related systems, and innovative therapies. This field focuses on the physiological and physicochemical factors controlling drug delivery to tissues, presence and bioactivity in the body and methods to package drugs to most effectively treat patients. Research extends from fundamental studies of drug physical chemistry to mechanistic investigations of physiological processes that impact drug delivery to specific sites of action and therapeutic effectiveness. The graduate curriculum emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach encompassing fundamental physical chemistry, mass transport, chemical thermodynamics, organic reactions and mechanisms, chemical kinetics, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, colloid and interfacial phenomena, biochemistry, polymer science, and molecular biology. Applications of these diverse principles to understanding drug transport through biological membranes, development of biosensors, bioactive polymeric nanocarriers for delivery of peptide and bioactive agents, drug targeting toward cells and organs, innovative nucleic acid and gene delivery, development of new drug formulations and delivery systems, nanotoxicology as well as new therapeutics (cancer immunotherapies, antibody-based drug conjugates, vaccines, cell-based therapies and cell sheets for tissue regeneration) and tissue profiling and diagnostic and imaging tools for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, gynecological malignancies, autoimmune diseases, dental care and other diseases are the focus of advanced course work and graduate research. Pharmaceutics is a component of the professional Pharm.D. Curriculum. No undergraduate degree is offered by the department.
Types of Degrees
Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Program
Areas of Specialization
Major research programs involve drug targeting, gene therapy, peptide and protein therapies, vaccines, novel molecular imaging, tissue profiling for personalized medicine, polymeric drugs, fundamental studies of drugs, physicochemical properties, mechanistic investigations of physiological processes that impact drug delivery to specific sites of action and therapeutic effectiveness, drug transport through biological membranes, new technologies for biosensors, bioactive polymeric carriers for delivery of peptide and bioactive agents and other therapeutic formulations or systems for innovative treatment of diseases or malignancies listed above.
Additional Information
Financial Aid/ Support Information
All Molecular Pharmaceutics Ph.D. students are hired as Graduate Research Assistants with a stipend, and with the option to enroll in the Graduate Subsidized Health Insurance Program (GSHIP). The College of Pharmacy patriciates in the Graduate School Tuition Benefit Program; graduate tuition is paid for graduate students who qualify for TBP. Students are responsible for any extra fees, including international fees (if applicable) and differential tuition, and for maintaining academic qualifications for graduate students in good standing.
Scholarship/Fellowship Opportunities
A limited number of University and Department Fellowships are offered on a competitive basis to exceptionally well-qualified applicants. Students will be automatically considered for these awards on the basis of their application materials.
Facilities, Centers, or Labs
Center for Controlled Chemical Delivery, Cell Sheet Tissue Engineering Center, Utah Center for Nanomedicine