Welcome to the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs (New Brunswick/Piscataway)
Housed in the School of Graduate Studies at Rutgers University, the Biomedical Sciences programs in New Brunswick/Piscataway offer interdisciplinary PhD training in specialties including Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Cell and Developmental Biology, Environmental Sciences Exposure Sciences, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Neuroscience, Pharmacology (with a Cancer Biology Concentration), Physiology, and Toxicology. Our MD/PhD program is an institutional partnership between Robert Wood Johnson Medical
School, Rutgers University New Brunswick campus and Princeton
University. In addition, we offer a Masters in Clinical and Translational Sciences, a Masters in Biomedical Science and an MS in Biomedical Sciences.
The School of Graduate Studies provides personalized academic support
for approximately 5,200 Rutgers students enrolled in more than 150
doctoral, master’s, and dual degree programs across New
Brunswick/Piscataway and Newark. Collaborating with international
partner institutions—from Brazil, Puerto Rico, France, and Croatia to
China, Indonesia, and South Korea—and with over 25,000 alumni spread
across the world, ours is a global commitment to advanced, cutting-edge
research and scholarship. Our school ensures rigorous academic
standards, fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between graduate
faculty and students, and oversees innovative professional development
initiatives that prepare graduate students to succeed in both academic
and non-academic careers.
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PhD Graduate Student Outcomes
- Average time to degree for biomedical PhD students at Rutgers: 5.7 years
- Average number of publications for biomedical PhD students at Rutgers: 1.4 first-author, 3 papers total
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Alumni Data from exit survey (first position after graduate)
68% postdoc, 17% research position in pharma/biotech, 9% research-related career (e.g. consulting, science writing, patent law, non-profit), 4% faculty/government position
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Alumni Data from
LinkedIn (current position)
41% research in pharma/biotech, 24% research-related careers (e.g. consulting, science writing, patent law, non-profit), 20% current postdocs,
15% academic faculty positions
Competencies taught Rutgers Biomedical Sciences PhD programs and how they are obtained
- Broad conceptual
knowledge - core courses
- Deep knowledge
of a specific field - upper level courses, thesis work,
and journal clubs
- Critical thinking - reading papers, planning
experiments, reviewing grants and manuscripts
- Experimental skills - rotations and thesis lab,
collaborations
- Responsible conduct
of research –
Ethical Scientific Conduct initial and refresher
- Rigor
and reproducibility - biostatistics classes
- Computational skills - computer programming class
- Collaboration/Teamwork – working with other labs and
within lab, student organizations
- Management and
emotional intelligence skills - manage your own project,
supervise undergraduates, interact with faculty and peers
- Leadership and professionalism –
iJOBS, join student organizations, volunteer for events
- Communication skills - presentations in lab, university,
and national meetings, writing manuscripts and fellowships, Communicating Science class
Material from Grant and Fellowship Application Workshop Sept 11, 2019
List of biomedical grants from GradFund
GradFund presentation slides
Slides regarding review process for F31 Fellowships
Congratulations to the Aaron Shatkin Scholarship winners for 2019
Vrushank Bhatt - Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program in the lab of Jessie Guo
Alejandra S. Laureano - Cell and Developmental Biology program in the lab of Kelvin Kwan
Valdir Barth - Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program in the lab of Nancy Woychik
Kelvin Kwan -
Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience
Jim Millonig - Senior Associate Dean of School of Graduate Studies

Slides for Orientation for PhD and MS students 2019
Overview slides about Biomedical Graduate School
Library slides
Scientific research integrity slides
Career Services slides
Mental Health Services slides
Graduate Student Organization slides
Welcome to the PhD and MS entering class of 2019

Grant writing workshop May 2019
To see the slides, click here
MD/PhD Student Receives Fulbright Grant

Anna Giarratana, an MD/PhD candidate who in May received her PhD in neuroscience,
was awarded a fulbright grant for Interdisciplinary Studies in Switzerland. She plans to use her Fulbright grant for a year of post-doctoral research at the University of Zurich.
Specifically, she will be working with Phillipe Tobler, PhD, associate professor of neuroeconomics and social economics at the Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, using state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques and neuroeconomic methods to investigate human decision-making in disease states. She plans to investigate the brain functioning of healthy individuals who have schizotypal personality traits, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with sensorimotor and reward-adaptation tasks. The research is designed to help advance understanding of the spectrum of mental illness and help pinpoint the regions of the brain responsible for deficits, as well as identify novel therapeutic targets.
Congratulations to all of our graduates, especially Urmimala Basu for winning the Stanley S. Bergen Medal of Excellence.

Congratulations to the Molecular Biosciences Graduate Student Organization Annual Symposium 2019 winners
Poster presentations: 1st: Brandon Schweibenz, 2nd: Jeffrey Yang, 3rd: Jennifer Schaefer
Oral presentations: 1st: Juliet Gardiner, 2nd: Agata Krzyzanowska, 3rd: Lauren Chukrallah
Congratulations to the iJOBS Phase 3 trainees who received their certification of completion in Oct 2018
Maram Alapa, Kalyan Chavda, Daniela Garcia, Anna Giarratana, Ekta Kumari, Lorenz Loyola, NIsha Mittal, Huri
Mucahit, AMinat Musah, Michele Patrizii, Irene Raitman Khutorskoy, Tracy Scott, Srilatha Simhardi, AblaTannous,
Melody Wren

How to Peer Review a Scientific Paper Oct 23, 2017
Slides from presentation
Learn why Science Matters at Rutgers University from some of our very own graduate students! Click on the image below to watch the video


Announcing the 2016-2017 Keeler Scholarship Award
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at New Brunswick/Piscataway is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2016-2017 Keeler Scholarship. This year’s award winners, Maria Isaac, Phillip Sgobba and April De Stefano will be completing a Master of Science in Biomedical Science degree. We congratulate our students and express our warmest gratitude to the Keeler family, who made this generous scholarship possible.
Read about MD/PhD Student Grace Ibitamuno Obienu who juggles 3 passions:medicine, community health and writing fiction.
Click here to learn more about Grace

Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) Pipeline Program renewed!
Congratulations to Jerry Langer, PhD and Beatrice Haimovich, PhD
on the renewal of a 5 year $2,365,247 grant from the NIH to enhance the training of under-represented minority students, and increase the number of Rutgers undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds who continue into careers in biomedical research and who will eventually assume leadership roles in the field. To learn more about the program, click here.
USAID Experience
Two of our master’s students, Alex Kenefake and Ashley Millette, spent three months in Indonesia as USAID fellows last summer. Read what they had to say about this extraordinary experience. We encourage the incoming MBS class to consider applying for the prestigious USAID fellowship for an all paid summer research experience in Indonesia.
Alex Kenefake Ashley Millette
GSBS MBS GSBS MBS
Click here to read all about Alex's Experience! Click here to read all about Ashley's Experience!
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