About the Department

Faculty members affiliated with the Department of Pharmacology bring a range of expertise to their roles as scientists and educators. Trained in a variety of disciplines, our faculty conducts research in multiple areas that impact the field of pharmacology, including signaling and gene expression; host-pathogen interactions; genetics, metabolism, and liver disease; ion channel pharmacology; cancer biology and pharmacology; translational pharmacology; therapeutic target identification; and drug discovery. Faculty research programs are supported by extramural support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense, New Jersey Commission for Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and numerous other foundations and agencies, as well as through corporate research contracts. The scientists and scholars affiliated with our department are recognized for their contributions to the scientific research enterprise and serve on national and international grant review panels, editorial and advisory boards. 

Faculty members in the department are committed to teaching the discipline of pharmacology: basic principles as well as the mechanisms by which drugs and other agents act to bring about therapeutic responses. To accomplish this task, we collaborate with faculty in other basic science and clinical departments to teach interdisciplinary courses spanning the first and second years of medical school. In addition, our faculty members lend their expertise in the areas of biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, and physiology to the teaching of medical and graduate students. 

Our faculty members are committed to training and preparing the next generation of scientists for careers in academic and industrial research settings, teaching, and public service. Faculty members in the department are active participants of multiple graduate programs that collaborate to offer a stimulating training experience for students pursuing the PhD degree. In addition, the department hosts post-doctoral fellows, research scientists and undergraduate students from Rutgers and other institutions, which creates an engaging learning and research environment for all. Through the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, our faculty lead and teach courses for students in a variety of PhD programs as well as programs for students interested in earning a master’s degree. 

Candidates interested in pursuing a PhD degree in Pharmacology, or a related discipline, are invited to visit the website for the Graduate Programs in Molecular Biosciences, which serves as an entry portal for the Graduate Programs in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Physiology and Integrative Biology and Cell and Developmental Biology.