Drug Discovery & Development Track
Objective
Graduates of the Drug Discovery and Development Track will be 21st century drug hunters.
Their tools will be those long-associated with medicinal and natural products chemistry such as the synthesis and characterization of new compounds and the isolation and characterization of new compounds from natural products. Students will employ a variety of techniques and tools with the ultimate goal of eradicating disease.
Drug discovery in the 21st century also involves protein and nucleic acid chemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, cell biology, transgenic animals, proteomics, genomics and more. Students will also be exposed to aspects of drug development, such as process chemistry, bioassay cascades, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and pharmaceutics.
The degree offered in this track is the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Pharmaceutical Sciences with an emphasis in drug discovery and development.
Application Requirements
Application requirements include a bachelor's degree in pharmacy, chemistry or the biological sciences or a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree with adequate preparation in mathematics.
To Apply
There are two routes to apply for admission into the Coit College of Pharmacy Drug Discovery & Development Graduate Studies Track:
Arizona Biological & BIomedical Sciences Program (ABBS)
Arizona Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program is an umbrella graduate program for first year PhD students which affords the opportunity for lab rotations through all ABBS-associated graduate programs, flexible curriculum options, plus one year of stipend, tuition, registration fees and health insurance. Applications occur through the program portal.
Track Specific (direct) Admission (TSA)
In exceptional cases where prior contact/interaction has already been established between the applicant and specific track faculty resulting in an invitation to apply, an application for direct admission (TSA) can be submitted using the GradApp portal.
Note: Students admitted through TSA must perform DDD track rotations. Importantly, when uploading your application to GradApp, you will be asked to answer the following question “Which track faculty have you interacted with, resulting in an invitation to submit a TSA application?” For a list of DDD core faculty including the graduate track director, please click here: DDD Core Faculty
Application Questions: Graduate Program Coordinator- dburruel@arizona.edu
Drug Discovery & Development Faculty

Qin Chen
Professor, Pharmacogenomics,Director, Pharmacogenomics
Holsclaw Endowed Professorship, Pharmacogenomics

Hongmin Li
Professor, Pharmacology and ToxicologyR. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery

Rick Schnellmann
Dean, R. Ken Coit College of PharmacyHoward J. Schaeffer Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
National Advisory Board Member

Daekyu Sun
Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Gregory Thatcher
Professor, Pharmacology and ToxicologyR. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery

Wei Wang
Co-Director, Arizona Center for Drug DiscoveryProfessor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Georg Wondrak
Professor, Pharmacology and ToxicologyDirector of Graduate Studies
Member, University of Arizona Cancer Center
