Applicable only to students admitted during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Molecular Toxicology

Interdepartmental Program
School of Public Health

Graduate Degrees

The Molecular Toxicology Program offers the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Molecular Toxicology.

Admissions Requirements

Doctoral Degree

An academic adviser is assigned to each new student by the Director of Student Affairs. The adviser meets with the student each quarter to discuss academic progress. Once the student is accepted into the laboratory of one of the participating faculty within the program, that faculty member then becomes the student’s adviser.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Students should consult the departmental website for this information.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

First year students take Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology 252(Fall) and Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology 262(Winter). In spring quarter, students take Environmental Health Sciences C240 and Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics C234 (or an equivalent ethics course). In all quarters of the first year, students take a three-unit seminar (Molecular Toxicology 211A in Fall, 211B in Winter, and 211C in Spring), and a six-unit laboratory rotation Molecular Toxicology 596 within the department of a faculty sponsor.

In winter quarter of their second or third year, students take Advanced Molecular Toxicology M242 (4 units). Also, starting with the second year, students spend most of their time on dissertation research. Students must attain a grade of B- or better in all the above core courses and must pass all core courses (excluding courses offered every other year) within two years of entering the program, unless there are mitigating circumstances that prevent this; such cases are reviewed by the Faculty Advisory Committee.

Students are required to take Molecular Cellular and Integrative Physiology 251 in the Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology (MC&IP) department or attend three workshops presented by the UCLA Institute for Quantitative and Computational Sciences, or attend other workshops/classes on big data science that are relevant to the student’s research (with Molecular Toxicology Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) approval). Students choosing to attend workshops will need approval beforehand by the FAC and will need to sign-in and receive a certificate or document acknowledging they attended.

All students are required to take one epidemiology course, unless they have passed a course in epidemiology while an undergraduate or Master’s student. This course can be Epidemiology 100 or another epidemiology course that is relevant to the student’s area of research interest, and may be taken for S/U grading.

Students are required to complete Public Health C201 (letter graded), unless they graduated from a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredited school or previously took and passed a course that covers the material of Public Health C201.

In addition to the course requirements listed here, students are expected to complete Molecular Toxicology 596, 597, and/or 599 during quarters in which research (596, 599) or study for written or oral examinations (597) is part of the program. Molecular Toxicology 596 is for students who have not passed their oral examinations; 599 is for those who have passed their oral examinations.

Teaching Experience

All students obtain instruction in teaching skills by serving as teaching assistants or readers for one quarter, typically during their second or third year. Exceptions to the timing of teaching are considered by the program’s Steering Committee. Assignments are influenced by student preference and expertise.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

Both a written and oral qualifying examination are required. This examination will usually typically be taken towards the end of the student’s first quarter of their third year at UCLA. The format for the written qualifying examination consists of a research proposal on a topic that is approved by members of the doctoral committee. The doctoral committee consists of four faculty members, including the student’s adviser who serves as chair. The adviser recommends the composition of the committee, which is appointed by the Graduate Division. The research proposal topic must be approved by the doctoral committee.

The University is organized to question the candidate regarding the written proposal, and also to query the candidate in a more general way regarding scientific topics that should be common knowledge to a doctoral-level toxicologist. Two attempts are allowed to pass both the written and oral qualifying examinations. Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

As a general guideline, the dissertation should consist of research equivalent to at least two peer-reviewed publications in reputable journals in the field.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

The normative time for the degree is fifteen academic quarters. Students who fail to complete the dissertation in a timely manner are placed on probation within the program.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
Ph.D.	7 (+2 summer sessions)	15 (+ 5 summer sessions)	27 (+9 summer sessions)

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

If a student should fail to find a faculty adviser within the Molecular Toxicology IDP by the end of four quarters in residence, or to maintain their faculty adviser, they will not be allowed to continue in the program. A recommendation for academic disqualification for a student who is not advanced to candidacy is made by the Faculty Advisory Committee. A recommendation for academic disqualification for a student who is advanced to candidacy is made by the doctoral committee. A student may appeal a recommendation for academic disqualification to the interdepartmental committee.