About Us
The Department of Pathology offers
the Ph.D. degree through the Horace
H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. A special
Ph.D./M.D. program is also open to students in the Medical
Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University
of Michigan. The primary goal of the doctorate in molecular and
cellular pathology program is to train individuals for careers
as independent scientific investigators, with a focus on the study
of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease processes.
The course programs are formulated
to meet the needs of individual students in consultation with
their academic adviser and with approval of the Molecular and
Cellular Pathology Graduate Program Committee. Courses are chosen
to provide each student with a background in basic areas of biochemistry,
cell biology, immunology, and genetics in preparation for in-depth
study of the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of disease. This
focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms is exemplified by the
core course requirement, Pathology 581 “Tissue, Cellular
and Molecular Basis of Disease”. Additional course work
depends on individual trainees' area of research specialization
and may include courses in other basic science departments in
the University. Students select a thesis adviser from the pathology
faculty to guide their dissertation research.
The research interests of the
faculty are diverse and include investigative programs in tissue
injury and repair, inflammation, aging, tumor biology, apoptosis,
regulation of gene expression in disease processes, and the biology
and pathobiology of cytokines, adhesion molecules and extracellular
matrix.
An active program in molecular
biology/genetics is present in the Department of Pathology in
conjunction with the University of Michigan Howard Hughes Medical
Institute for Molecular Genetics. Two National Institutes of Health
training grants in lung immunopathology and experimental immunopathology
support 4 graduate students and approximately 40 postdoctoral
fellows in the department. Because of this significant interest
in Immunology, the Molecular and Cellular Pathology Graduate Program
has very close ties with the interdepartmental graduate training
Program
in Immunology.
