We welcome the opportunity to inform you about our graduate program in Pharmacology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The Department of Pharmacology at the Health Science Center at San Antonio is uniquely positioned to deliver superior training in pharmacology. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has developed core courses in biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular biology that are available to all graduate students. In addition, our faculty use approaches that range from the molecular and cellular through electrophysiology and systems to behavior. Consequently, our students receive training in all these areas and gain an appreciation of the effects of drugs at all these levels of analysis.

Our goal is not only to train students to become accomplished scientists in a specific area of research but also to become independent, creative, and productive thinkers. Accomplishing this goal has enabled our graduates to move on to rewarding and successful careers in academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and government.

We are very excited about recent developments in pharmacology that allow new and challenging means of exploring the biological effects of drugs. We hope that you will consider joining our program so that we can convey the excitement of scientific discovery to you.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, located in the northern suburbs of the city of San Antonio, is one of the 15 components in The University of Texas System. The UTHSCSA, a health science center in the truest sense, is composed of five interactive schools: The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Dental School, Medical School, School of Allied Health Sciences, and the School of Nursing. The Health Science Center environment allows a unique opportunity for the more than 2,800 students enrolled in more than 60 programs to experience a high quality combination of clinical and basic sciences. Away from the main campus is the Texas Research Park, which currently houses three research buildings; (1) Barshop Center for Longevity & Aging; (2) Centers for Biology in Medicine; and (3) Institute of Biotechnology.

The Health Science Center is relatively young, having been founded in 1968, but it has already established itself as a premier educational and research institution. Research dollars to the Health Science Center have grown from $41 million 16 years ago to $176 million in 2005 with $88 million coming from the National Institute of Health. Scientists carry out major studies on diabetes, cancer, AIDS, stroke, pain and many areas of neuroscience.