The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University offers doctoral (Ph.D.) programs in basic sciences. The Coordinated Doctoral Program in Basic Sciences consists of ten tracks: Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Biomedical Informatics, Cell Biology and Pathobiology, Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies, Genetics and Development, Microbiology, Neurobiology and Behavior, Nutrition, Pharmacology and Physiology and Cellular Biophysics. A Master’s Degree Program in Biomedical Informatics is also available.

All students in the Coordinated Doctoral Program receive full support for tuition, student health services and medical insurance. Students also receive a generous stipend for their personal use that begins at registration and normally continues throughout the period of graduate study. Both international students and U.S. students are eligible for this support. Currently there are over 400 Ph.D. students in the various departments and sub-committees of the Coordinated Doctoral Program. Fifty-three percent are women. Twenty-nice percent are international students from all parts of the world.

The Coordinated Doctoral Program allows the students to become part of the exciting and highly interactive research community of faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the Medical Center. Courses are generally concentrated in the first two years. The first year curriculum emphasizes research rotations in three different laboratories to allow students to experience a range of research topics and potential Ph.D. mentors. At the beginning of the second year, students choose their mentors and begin their research for the Ph.D. degree. The basic sciences faculty are committed to providing a complete graduate education that emphasizes intellectual challenge, supportive guidance, independence and sophisticated training in research. Ph.D. graduates from the Coordinated Doctoral Program have consistently gone on to become world leaders in biomedical research.