Recommended course work for the Master of Science Degree:

• Advanced pathophysiology and pharmacotherapy of psychiatric disorders
• Experimental design and statistical inference (educational psychology)
• Experimental design and research methods in pharmacy administration
• Research methodology in psychiatric pharmacy
• Written and oral communication skills for scientists
• Pharmacy administration data analysis
• Correlation and regression methods
• Graduate seminar (every semester)
• Clinical psychopharmacology journal club (every semester)
• Pharmacotherapy conference (every semester)
• Thesis

Additional requirements for the Ph.D. degree:

• 6 hours of pharmacy practice and administration courses
• 6 hours in clinical psychology coursework or an approved alternative minor (NOTE: See below)
• 3 hours of statistics (beyond the 6 hours required for the M.S. degree)
• 3 hours of research theory outside of pharmacy
• 3 hours of research methods outside of pharmacy
• Graduate seminar (every semester)
• Clinical psychopharmacology journal club (every semester)
• Pharmacotherapy conference (every semester)
• Satisfactory completion of qualifying exams
• Dissertation

Examples of psychology courses (psychology and educational psychology departments) include: research methodology in clinical psychology, functional neuroanatomy, human neuropsychology, neuropsychiatric assessment, developmental psychology, mental health and human service systems, and applied psychometrics. Additional external electives are available through numerous other academic departments on campus, including: business, economics, health education, nursing, public affairs, public health, social work, and sociology.

An interim M.S. degree is not required for individuals with the Pharm.D. degree who are pursuing the Ph.D.; however, preliminary research is required before pursuing the dissertation. Please consult the Pharmacy Practice and Administration Division guide to graduate studies and the faculty for guidance regarding requirements and recommended coursework for a Ph.D. with an emphasis in mental health outcomes.

Following completion of required coursework for the Ph.D. degree, the graduate student must satisfactorily complete written preliminary examinations before beginning the dissertation. A dissertation committee composed of at least five faculty will be appointed to supervise the student's dissertation. The Psychiatric Pharmacy Program requires that the committee must include at least one person outside the college, and preferably outside of the university. Depending on the nature of the candidate's research, serious consideration should be given to the outside committee member being a psychiatrist or psychologist. Following completion of chapters 1 and 2 of the dissertation (background, hypotheses, methods), the student must present and defend the dissertation proposal before the committee. Ph.D. candidates must also appear before the College's Executive Committee of the Graduate Studies Committee before beginning their research. Following completion of the research and writing of the dissertation, the student must successfully present and defend the work before the supervisory committee.

Most thesis or dissertations in the Psychiatric Pharmacy Program will require approval of the University Institutional Review Board for Protection of Human Research Subjects (IRB). All graduate students must complete minimum training in human research ethics. Consult the UT IRB website for more information.

Throughout the Ph.D. program, the graduate student/resident will be involved in other activities to foster professional development. These may include: grant writing; manuscript preparation; other research activities; teaching and mentoring of Pharm.D. students, psychiatric pharmacy residents and psychiatry residents; and psychiatric pharmacy practice activities. The nature of these activities will partially depend on the source of the trainee's financial support. Trainees are encouraged to participate in writing grants to support the dissertation research, both as a source of financial support and professional growth.