Graduate Students
The Molecular Pathology graduate program is an interdisciplinary program that has at its core the fundamental study of the molecular basis of disease. Faculty associated with this program have academic appointments in several institutions including: The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine and The Texas Heart Institute. The program is a component of the The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS). Diverse areas of research expertise within the Program mean that students within the Program have a wide array of options both in research and in the course work available.
Through its active interdisciplinary research environment, the program provides an integrative approach to graduate education that stresses medical applications of research as well as the study of basic biologic processes. The primary research focus of the program is on the study of the molecular basis of human disease and the faculty's efforts are concentrated in four areas:
- The Pathogenesis and Immunological Basis of Infectious Disease
- Cellular and Molecular Pathology of Human Disease
- Molecular Pathology of Carcinogenesis
- The Structural Basis of Disease
In addition to the Graduate School curriculum, the Program in Molecular Pathology provides an active seminar and journal club program to aid the research training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
During the first two years of graduate education, trainees are exposed to a wide variety of courses in biomedical sciences. Students are also required to rotate through three research laboratories of participating faculty during their first year. This process allows the student to identify a research advisor whose research and scientific approach meshes with their interests and long term educational goals. During subsequent years the trainee takes more specialized courses and conducts dissertation research under the direction of this advisor.
