Pharmacology and Toxicology About Us

Message from the Chair

Welcome to the website for the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Utah, which is located in Salt Lake City at the foot of the beautiful Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. Pharmacology and Toxicology are integrative and interdisciplinary sciences that investigate the actions of chemical agents on living systems. These chemical agents can include endogenous molecules, such as hormones and neurotransmitters, materials in the environment that can produce adverse effects, as well as synthetic and naturally derived drugs that can treat human disease. Pharmacologists and Toxicologists have an exceptionally broad perspective and investigate virtually every organ system from the molecular to whole organism level. The mission of our Department is three-fold, and focuses on research, graduate and professional training, and service. The faculty of this department place a high priority on the teaching and research training of graduate students for the Ph.D. degree. Our program features close working relationships between individual students and their faculty mentor, rich and diverse research opportunities, and individualized programs of study based on the needs of the students. Doctoral graduates of our program gain employment in research and teaching positions at colleges and universities, engage in research and development in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and have additional opportunities in research institutes, government agencies, environmental protection organizations, and many other arenas. Our Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program provides enriching research experiences for undergraduate students anticipating research careers in the biological sciences.

We invite you to examine our research and graduate training programs and we hope you obtain a sense of the exciting work taking place. Students with backgrounds in the biological or chemical sciences are strongly encouraged to apply for graduate study toward the Ph.D. degree.

Karen Wilcox, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

About our Graduate Programs

PhD Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology

Our department does not directly admit PhD students. Students generally enter the PhD Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology through the Bioscience PhD Programs of Biological Chemistry or Molecular Biology www.bioscience.utah.edu or via the Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience www.neuroscience.med.utah.edu. Students complete their first year in Bioscience or Neuroscience, and typically rotate in Pharmacology and Toxicology labs during their first year. At the end of the first year, they are able to join a PharmTox lab.

Master's Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology: Coming Soon

We will start accepting applications for a 1 year Master's Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology in Fall 2024; the inaugural program cohort will begin Fall 2025. If you would like to be notified when applications open, please fill out this form

IDEAS in Neuroscience Post-Baccalaureate Program

Intermountain Doctoral Education to Advance Students (IDEAS) in Neuroscience is a 2 year, NIH funded post baccalaureate program at the University of Utah. This is a paid training program ($35,000 a year stipend + health insurance + tuition) for recent college graduates from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in applying to PhD programs in the neurosciences.