Integrated Toxicology & Environmental Health PhD
Program Code: G-TXE-PHD
Department: Integrated Toxicology Program
Website: sites.nicholas.duke.edu/envhealth
Program Summary
The Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program (ITEHP) provides students with the theoretical and practical bases for research, employment, and teaching in toxicology. This interdepartmental program brings together graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members from a variety of scientific disciplines to address exposure, toxicological and associated environmental health problems from their molecular basis to clinical and environmental consequences. The ITEHP includes participation of faculty members from the departments of biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, engineering, neurobiology, pathology, pharmacology and cancer biology, and the Nicholas School of the Environment, including the Duke University Marine Laboratory. Among the principal areas of concentration in the program are neurotoxicology and neurological disease, epigenetics, genetic toxicology, cancer, developmental toxicology and children’s health, environmental exposure and toxicology, and pulmonary toxicology and disease. Duke faculty members have a variety of collaborative research efforts and, in some cases, student rotations are available with scientists at the nearby laboratories of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Application to the program can be made in two ways.
Direct Admission: If a student’s primary interest is toxicology, then they may apply for admission directly through the ITEHP. Applicants should indicate their Intended Degree on their Graduate School application as “PhD. (Biomedical Sciences Programs – School of Medicine)” and their Department/Degree as “Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health – Ph.D.” Students admitted directly into the program affiliate with a degree-granting department (including various PhD programs in the Nicholas School of the Environment, Pratt School of Engineering, or School of Medicine) depending upon their choice of research mentor, typically at the end of their first year. Students directly admitted to ITEHP are awarded a full fellowship (tuition, fees, and stipend), and these training grant fellowships are restricted to US Citizens or Permanent Residents only. Non-US Citizens who are interested in ITEHP must apply via Option #2 below through a participating department and pursue the ITEHP certificate.
Certificate Option: Students with a primary interest in a departmentally based field may also apply to the ITEHP by indicating their Intended Degree as “Ph.D. (All Others)” and their Department/Degree as their program of interest (e.g. “Environment – Ph.D.”). Intended Degrees include graduate programs within Duke University’s Schools of Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, or Environment). Applicants should also enter “ITEHP certificate” in the free text Area(s) of Interest field on the graduate school application. In addition, these students must send an email to ITEHP@duke.edu in order to indicate interest in the ITEHP certificate. (NOTE: It is also possible for students to add the ITEHP certificate option after they matriculate. Contact the program for more details.)
There is no difference in the eventual degree granted through either mechanism; both routes result in a PhD granted by a specific department, with certification in toxicology. It is expected that most students will have a strong undergraduate preparation in mathematics and the physical and biological sciences with demonstrated excellence of performance as judged by grades in coursework and letters of recommendation from former instructors. Each student in the program will take a series of courses in toxicology, environmental health, and statistics as well as courses specified by their department. A student will be expected to choose a dissertation advisor in their department at least by the end of the first two semesters in the program and will normally be expected to begin dissertation research during the third semester in residence. Upon satisfactorily completing all degree requirements in the program and in the department, students will be jointly recommended for the PhD.
Students are offered admission to the program with fellowship support based on rank among all applicants. ITEHP students who are directly admitted into the program (vs. adding on the certificate option) are funded fully through the program’s training grant fellowship mechanism for the first two years of study. For each entering year, approximately three full fellowships (tuition, fees, and stipend) are awarded to toxicology graduate school applicants.
Please note that toxicology and environmental health training grant fellowships are restricted to US citizens or permanent residents. Non-US citizens who are interested in the integrated toxicology and environmental health program will need to apply and request funding directly through a participating department.
Applicants must submit a personal essay, transcripts, and three letters of recommendation. GRE score submission is optional. Applicants can also include a short video component in the Departmental Requirements section of their application; this optional video is a helpful additional tool for the ITEHP Admissions Committee, enhancing holistic review of applicants. It is expected that coursework and research experience will vary among applicants but that the applicant’s academic credentials will be sufficient to ensure successful completion of the degree.
Further information may be obtained from the ITEHP program, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708; ITEHP@duke.edu; sites.nicholas.duke.edu/envhealth.
Academic Requirements
Thesis advisor must be a faculty member of ITEHP.
At least one (1) additional member of the candidate’s thesis committee must be a faculty member of ITEHP.
A candidate admitted to the PhD program directly by ITEHP must complete three (3) lab rotations in their first year of study. The rotations must include laboratories in at least two (2) different departments and two (2) different schools. A candidate pursuing the ITEHP certificate who was admitted through another PhD program will follow the rotation rules of their admitting program.
PHARM 533: Essentials of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Drug Discovery
ENVIRON 501: Environmental Toxicology
Complete one (1) of the following:
ENVIRON (or PHARM, cross-listed) 815: Focused Topics in Toxicology, OR
ENVIRON 869: Environmental Law Clinic, OR
EOS 701S: Research Orientation Seminar, OR
BIOTRAIN 720: Grant Writing for Biomedical Scientists (previously PHARM 710: Papers and Grant Writing Workshop 710)
PHARM 733: Experimental Design and Biostatistics for Basic Biomedical Scientists
ENVIRON (or PHARM, cross-listed) 847S and 848S: Seminar in Toxicology, fall and spring. NOTE: Attendance at this seminar series is expected during the first two years, and highly encouraged thereafter.
Present a seminar on their dissertation work to the program, usually during the last year.
Doctoral committee must be approved by the graduate school at least 30 days prior to preliminary exams.