Program Requirements

By the end of the first quarter of the second year, each student typically selects a thesis lab and major sponsor (thesis advisor) in the Pharmacology Program. NOTE: If a student has worked in a laboratory of a faculty member in the program for an extended period (e.g., as a lab technician or in a similar position), the student will not be allowed to do their thesis work in the same lab.  This policy is designed to give students broader research experiences.  

Once a thesis lab is chosen, the student will the student will ask the major advisor and two additional faculty sponsors to serve on their advisory committee, which we call the Special Committee. Students can choose from among all members of the graduate school faculty, but at least one member of your Thesis Committee must be a Pharmacology faculty member. The student and major sponsor select minor faculty based on expertise in the student’s dissertation research subject area.  Please find the instructions to initiate the Thesis Committee Meeting evaluation form: click here.

The Special Committee meets at least once a year (see Annual Committee Meeting) to discuss research progress and future plans with the student. The Special committee also serves as the core group of examiners for the students Admission-to-Candidacy and Thesis Defense examinations. Changes in Special Committee composition may be made by the student at any time, with approval of the major sponsor and Pharmacology Program Director.

Laboratory rotations in three different laboratories with faculty members in the pharmacology program is highly encouraged and usually begin in the late fall, after the first year graduate students have heard the faculty talks from each of the faculty members in the program. 

These faculty talks begin in early September and finish by mid October. When these research talks by the faculty are finished, the first year students will be asked to list three faculty members in the Pharmacology Program with whom they would like to rotate. A fourth name should also be provided as an alternate. 

Three rotations in different laboratories are required of all students except those with a masters degree; these students are required to do two laboratory rotations. 

NOTE: If a student has worked in a laboratory of a faculty member in the program for an extended period (eg. as a lab technician or in a similar position), the student will not be allowed to do their thesis work in the same lab.  This policy is designed to give students broader research experiences.

The laboratory rotations generally last approximately 7-10 weeks. A typical schedule for rotations within the first year graduate school would be, for example:

• Mid-November through early January (rotation number 1)
• February through the first week of April (rotation number 2)
• mid April through June (rotation number 3)

The rotations have several goals/purposes – first, they allow the first year graduate students to learn about the scientific projects being carried out in a particular lab; second, they allow the graduate students to learn about the atmosphere in the laboratory and become acquainted with the faculty member who leads the laboratory; third, the laboratory rotations allow students to learn new techniques that they can apply to their future thesis projects; fourth, the laboratory rotations allow the faculty member to assess the student and determine the student’s interest in the laboratory’s research. In general, students are able to do their thesis research in the laboratory they select after completing the three rotations.  

It is expected that students will do all three rotations with Pharmacology faculty members since students have selected this program for their PhD training. All rotations must be approved before the student begins the rotation by the Director of the Pharmacology PhD Program. Once you have selected a Thesis Lab, you must email the program director and program coordinator to inform them. 

This information is then passed on in the Spring by the program coordinator to the Weill Cornell Grad School finance office in year 2.  Please note that if you select a thesis lab outside of the Pharmacology PhD Program, you will not be eligible for funding from the T32 Pharmacology training grants for a portion of your PhD training.

However, as some laboratories are selected more often by students for thesis research, it is important to identify faculty with whom the student wants to do a rotation early in first year so that the faculty member can reserve a place in the laboratory for the student. 

Occasionally, a fourth laboratory rotation is necessary in order for a student to identify a thesis laboratory that fits with their scientific interests. At the beginning of the rotation, the student must register in the LEARN system for each rotation in order to document each rotation and to show up on your transcript. (Aileen Rosales can help if a student needs assistance with this.)  To initiate new forms, please be sure to log in the Academic Milestone Tracker Portal. 

At the completion of each laboratory rotation, the student and faculty member need to fill out a laboratory rotation form together. This one is required by the graduate school and allows the faculty member and student to get together to discuss the positive and any negatives of the laboratory rotation. This is also required for credit for the rotation to be given. The students must also have each laboratory rotation approved by the director of the program BEFORE the laboratory rotation commences in order to get credit for the laboratory rotation.

ACE Checklist

The objective of the Admission-to-Candidacy examination is to affirm that the student has attained the breadth of knowledge commensurate with the high standards of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy; and that the student is ready to undertake full-time thesis research.

Pharmacology PhD students MUST take the Admission-to-Candidacy Exam (ACE) by March 31st of their second year. The exam should be scheduled with a two hour time frame. The ACE Examining Committee consists of five individuals: a chair, three other faculty, and one additional examiner to be selected by the student and approved by the Program Director.  

The Chair of the ACE exam committee must be a faculty member in the Pharmacology PhD Program, and two of the four other members of the ACE exam committee must be Pharmacology PhD faculty members. Thus, three out of the total of five faculty members on the ACE exam committee, as a minimum, must be Pharmacology PhD Program faculty members. Of course, we encourage students to select all five of the ACE exam committee members from the Pharmacology PhD Program faculty. All examiners must be faculty members in the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

The Admission to Candidacy Examination (ACE) consists of two parts: written and oral. 

For the written part, the student crafts a research proposal that poses and tests a novel hypothesis, in a subject area that can either be the topic of the student's intended thesis research or a research topic unrelated to his or her thesis research. The selected hypothesis is expected to be creative, insightful, and testable by an experimental plan devised by the student. The proposed experiments should be of a magnitude and scope suitable for a fellowship application, i.e. realistic for completion by one graduate student in a 2-3 year time frame. 

Once the ACE topic is approved by the Program Director, the student is free of all responsibility to the thesis lab and given one month to write the written proposal. The P.I. of the lab should NOT assist the student in preparing the written proposal. Once the written component of the ACE has been prepared by the candidate, and before the remainder of the ACE committee receives the written portion, the PI must sign off on it, indicating that it is the candidate's own work, and that he/she has not read the proposal. An email to this effect to the Program Director, cc'ed to the Program Coordinator, Aileen Rosales, will suffice. 

The text of the written proposal must exactly follow the NIH F31 fellowship format (the format layout, margins, font size, page limits, etc.). For the latest F31 formatting instructions from NIH, click here for the format instructions.  This F31 format has one page for specific aims, and 6 additional pages, not counting references.  The student distributes the written proposal to each member of their ACE Committee two weeks before the exam. 

After submission, the student may discuss the proposal with the faculty members of his/her ACE Committee. The student schedules the oral exam for approximately two weeks later. This oral exam should be scheduled in advance of submitting the written proposal. The oral exam is intended to test the student's factual knowledge of pharmacology and related disciplines as well as his/her ability to process, organize, and evaluate scientific data.

The student is required to follow the rules, and complete the following form in the Academic Milestone Tracker Portal. The ACE application is due at least at least four weeks prior to the date of the oral portion of the exam.

Some important points about the ACE exam:

• FORMAT OF THE WRITTEN PROPOSAL: The format should follow the NIH F31 format exactly.
• The student's thesis advisor should not read the ACE proposal until just before the exam, when other ACE Committee members have the proposal as well; should not share any grants or other types of proposals on the ACE topic with the student prior to the ACE exam; and should not answer any questions for the student or defend the student's answers during the oral exam.

• The ACE proposal must be the student's own writing. The definition of plagiarism is:

  • to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own
  • to use another's production without crediting the source
  • to commit literary theft
  • to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

  Students should not copy or paraphrase any writing from their thesis advisor or other students and fellows in the thesis lab. Students should also not copy or paraphrase any writing from published research articles or reviews related to the topic of the ACE proposal. (Plagiarism is a very serious type of misconduct and can lead to a student's dismissal from the program). If any lab or published paper "Powerpoint" slides are used in the written or oral presentation for the ACE, the student must attribute the slide to the source. If any experiments or other data/tests, etc. are used in the written or oral presentation, the student must indicate if he/she actually generated the data and if not, must attribute the data to the proper source.

• Students must submit a Predoctoral Fellowship application to NIH or another government source or a private foundation within one year of completing and passing their ACE exam. This should be done with the assistance of the student's thesis advisor/mentor. Failure to do so could result in the thesis mentor not being renewed as a faculty member in the program, as this is part of the mentoring of the student by the advisor. For assistance and details on submitting fellowships at this time, you can contact the Senior Grants Administrator for the Grad School, Anastasia Efthymiou ane4008@med.cornell.edu, for ACE resources and additional information on WCGS Fellowship opportunities and Scientific Writing Resources.
• Each student must have his/her first thesis committee meeting within five months of passing the ACE exam. Failure to do this could result in the student being placed on probation (not in good standing).

The student is responsible for scheduling the first meeting with his/her Special Committee a maximum of 5 months after successfully passing the ACE examination and he/she must have at least one meeting per year (each meeting should be scheduled for a duration of 1.5-2 hours) in order to remain in good academic standing. 

Within one year of passing the ACE, the student also must submit a predoctoral fellowship application to a government agency or a foundation in order to remain in good standing. The number of meetings per year is often greater than one, depending on the student's research needs and progress. As you enter your 5th year and beyond, you are required to have two meetings per year.

For each Annual Thesis Advisory Special Committee Meeting the student should prepare a written document according to our guidelines, which MUST be distributed to their committee by email 7 days prior to the scheduled meeting. (If this is not been received by the committee before the meeting, the meeting may be cancelled by faculty). This document must also be uploaded in your Academic Progression Portfolio. You are now also required to send a calendar invite to your committee members as a confirmation and reminder to add to their calendars. Please reach out to Aileen if you need assistance with this action.

At the Thesis Advisory Special Committee meetings, the student will present the research he/she has accomplished, the research he/she is currently pursuing, and a plan for future research will be discussed and agreed upon. Only limited background information (2 powerpoint slides) on the project should be given so that the focus is on future plans.

The Thesis Advisory Special Committee chair, documents the faculty members' recommendations in the online evaluation form initiated by the student in the Academic Progression Portfolio. The Thesis Advisory Special Committee must consist of your thesis advisor and two other faculty members. 

It is optional for you to add a fourth member; all faculty members must be faculty in the Weill Cornell Grad School of Biomedical Sciences. It is required to have at least two faculty members on your Thesis Advisory Special Committee be faculty members from the Pharmacology PhD Program. 

Your Annual Committee chair should not be the same as your PI, or your Final Thesis Defense Chair. Your committee members should be listed as minor sponsors in the portal once you submit your Nomination of Special Thesis form. Follow these instructions to initiate the online: Academic Progression Portfolio.

Thesis research is typically completed within 4-6 years of tenure in the Program. The written thesis is crafted by the student under the direction of the Major Sponsor.

The Thesis Defense (Final Examination for the degree of PhD) is scheduled with the Graduate School Office at least 30 days in advance.  Please submit your Final Thesis for Defense application in the Academic Milestone Tracker Portal. 

Please ensure the Final Application for PhD form is signed by one of the Pharmacology leaders: Dr. Gudas, Dr. Abdel-Wahab or Dr. Minkui Luo and then submitted to the program coordinator.  Normally, a completed written thesis is submitted to the Examining Committee at least 4-6 weeks in advance of the Thesis Defense date. 

The Thesis Defense is public (friends and family are welcome) and begins with a 40-60 min seminar style presentation by the student that summarizes thesis research. This is followed by the departure of all attendees, other than the student, Examining Committee and members of the graduate school faculty that wish to observe the exam. 

Similar to the committee assembled for the ACE, the Thesis Examining Committee consists of five members: the Special Thesis Advisory Committee (major and two minor sponsors), one outside examiner (selecting an outside examiner is optional, not required but must be approved by the major sponsor), minimum of two must be Pharmacology Faculty Program members) and a chair (the student can select the chair). The Chair of your defense cannot be the same member that served as your Thesis Committee Meeting Chair.  

A successful oral defense and acceptance of the written thesis will result in a recommendation to the Dean for award of the PhD degree in Pharmacology.

Summary Pre-Defense Checklist:

1. Ensure your committee has indicated their approval for you to defend in the milestones section of your last annual committee meeting evaluation form.
2. Ensure you have completed and submitted your Progression to Degree Form in the Academic Milestone Tracker Portal.
3. Ensure you have all your IDPs completed from all your years, including the current year.

Reach out to Aileen to schedule a meeting to do a final overview of your student portfolio.