Training in Pharmacological Sciences

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Project Abstract: We seek eight training slots to support students during their first and/or second year of training in pharmacological sciences. The Therapeutics Graduate Program (TGP) recruits students from multiple Harvard PhD programs to build a diverse and inclusive community focused on therapeutic science, with a strong focus on professional skills development and career mentoring. The TGP provides rigorous training in the science of drug discovery, evaluation, and clinical use through a required core curriculum, paracurricular activities focused on professional skills development, and a signature required internship, where students spend 2–4 months in an industrial or regulatory science setting before the end of their 4th year. Recruitment: The TGP will recruit students and faculty from multiple HMS and Harvard programs, including Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS), Chemical Biology, and Systems Biology graduate programs at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard University, and the HMS-affiliated teaching hospitals. Faculty will be evaluated for scientific relevance and mentoring skills, and openness to student-centric training experiences. Diversity/inclusion: We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and supportive training community. Intellectual diversity will benefit by recruitment from multiple PhD programs. We will boost social and ethnic diversity by emphasizing how the TGP prepares students for careers with direct societal impact and provides clear and direct career preparation through internships. Professional skills and career development: We involve industry professionals in teaching 1st year classes and co-organizing paracurricular activities focused on skills development. Our required internship experience provides trainees with hands-on exposure to industrial or regulatory science work environments, and provides strong networking opportunities. Internships also help mentors understand the benefit of our commitment to student-centric training. Scientific rigor and responsible conduct: These components are emphasized throughout the curriculum, and reinforced by mentorships where students are exposed to team-based science in a professional setting. Training benefit: There is a strong demand for PhD-level scientists who have been rigorously trained in the core concepts of drug discovery. Demographic trends are increasing the need for drug treatments, and there is optimism for treating the most feared diseases based on recent progress and emergence of new drug modalities such as antibodies and oligonucleotides. Many research schools and hospitals are building translational research centers, often in collaboration with local industry, and these need to recruit faculty and PhD-level staff. The pharma/biotech industry has exploded in Massachusetts in the last decade, and many PhD-level positions remain unfilled. TGP trainees will lead in this growing field.