MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY

For students in the medicinal chemistry program, the following conditions apply:

Admission • Two letters of recommendation, including at least one from a faculty member in the major department, are required.

Undergraduate Requirements • Although the majority of the students admitted to the program have degrees in pharmacy and/or chemistry, there is no specific undergraduate degree required for admission. Undergraduate requirements that may need to be satisfied during graduate study (or can be completed prior to graduate study), depending on the student's selected research problem and area of interest, can include biochemistry, instrumental analysis, pharmacology, and physical chemistry.

Organic Chemistry Placement Test • Entering students are required to take an orientation examination in organic chemistry. Performance on this examination will determine if the student must enroll in Intermediate Organic Chemistry (CHEM 524) prior to taking advanced Organic Chemistry (CHEM 527 and 528). The department highly recommends that incoming students study for this placement exam prior to entering the program.

Graduate Course Requirements • Medicinal chemistry is a multidisciplinary chemistry-centered science involved in applying both chemical and biological principles to a study of chemical substances capable of exerting specific effects on a biological system. In practice, the medicinal chemist is involved in designing, synthesizing and characterizing medicinal agents intended for the management and/or therapy of disease states. Students will be required to enroll in the following courses:

1. Students entering the program with no background in medicinal chemistry will take Advanced Medicinal Chemistry I, II (MEDC 501, 502) (6 hours);

2. Medicinal Chemistry Research Methodology (MEDC 503) (3 hours);

3. Seminar on Current Medicinal Chemistry Topics (1 hour).

Two departmental seminars are required of master's degree candidates. Students are required to attend seminars each semester irrespective of whether they present a seminar that semester or whether they are enrolled in seminar.

Students are encouraged to take at least one drug action and design course.