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Pharmacology and Toxicology

Contact | Courses | Faculty | Overview | Programs: Collaborative, Degree

Faculty Affiliation

Medicine

Degree Programs Offered

Pharmacology – MSc, PhD

Collaborative Programs Offered

Degree programs that participate in:

  1. Addition Studies
  • Pharmacology, MSc, PhD
  1. Cardiovascular Sciences
  • Pharmacology, MSc, PhD
  1. Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology, MSc, PhD
  1. Toxicology, Biomedical
  • Pharmacology, MSc, PhD
  1. Women’s Health
  • Pharmacology, MSc, PhD

Overview

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology. Research activity, from which graduate students may choose problems for their theses, include:

  • biochemical and molecular pharmacology
  • cardiovascular pharmacology
  • clinical pharmacology
  • drug addiction
  • drug metabolism, distribution, and pharmacokinetics
  • endocrine pharmacology
  • immunopharmacology
  • neuropharmacology
  • pharmacogenetics
  • psychopharmacology
  • receptor pharmacology
  • second messengers and signal transduction
  • toxicology

All MSc and PhD students are expected to undertake self-directed study and to demonstrate proficiency in pharmacological principles throughout the course of their graduate program.

Contact and Address

Web: www.pharmtox.utoronto.ca/
E-mail: pharmtox.dept@utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 978-5244
Fax: (416) 978-6395

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Room 4207, Medical Sciences Building
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8
Canada

Degree Programs

Master of Science 

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Appropriate four-year University of Toronto bachelor’s degree, or its equivalent from a recognized university, with a minimum B+ average in the final year of the undergraduate program.
  • Applicants are normally required to have taken courses in physiology, biochemistry, or allied sciences sufficient to form a foundation for their work in pharmacology.
  • The Department must be satisfied about the applicant's background, accomplishments, and financial support.
  • All successful applicants are responsible for obtaining research supervision and financial support before they are permitted to officially register in their program. 

Program Requirements

  • Minimum period of one full year of residence during which time the student is required to be on campus full-time and consequently in such geographical proximity as to be able to participate fully in the Department's activities associated with the program.
  • PCL 1002Y Graduate Pharmacology. The academic program may require additional coursework.
  • Each student will present a departmental seminar after approximately one year in the program.
  • Each student will participate in a research program and present the results of the investigation as a written thesis. The thesis will be evaluated and defended to the satisfaction of a thesis examination committee.
  • MSc students in pharmacology who intend to continue their studies in the PhD program may choose to be evaluated during their MSc oral defence.
     

Doctor of Philosophy 

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Appropriate University of Toronto MSc degree, or its equivalent from a recognized university, with a minimum B+ average in master’s courses
  • Applicants are normally required to have taken courses in physiology, biochemistry, or allied sciences sufficient to form a foundation for their work in pharmacology.
  • The Department determines the eligibility of prospective students. The Department assesses the student’s ability for advanced study and independent research in pharmacology.
  • Well qualified students with excellent research potential holding an appropriate bachelor’s degree may be considered for direct admission to the PhD program. These applicants must have achieved a minimum final year average of A-.
  • Applicants with MSc degrees from other departments or universities, and students admitted with a bachelor’s degree will have their research ability reviewed after completion of one year. Upon successful completion of a departmental seminar and recommendation from the student's advisory committee, the student will be permitted to proceed with the PhD program.
  • Students transferring from the master's program in pharmacology to the PhD program may receive full credit for master's courses towards doctoral course requirements, with the Department's permission.
  • All successful applicants are responsible for obtaining research supervision and financial support before they are permitted to officially register in their program.

Program Requirements

  • Minimum period of two full years of residence during which time the student is required to be on campus full-time and consequently in such geographical proximity as to be able to participate fully in the Department's activities associated with the program.
  • PCL 1002Y Graduate Pharmacology (major subject), PCL 1003Yo Seminars in Pharmacology (Credit/No Credit course), 1.0 additional FCE (minor subject), and any other courses advised by the Graduate Education Committee. The student's advisory committee should help the student determine the minor course.
  • Pharmacology graduate faculty members also offer a variety of laboratory-based and tutorial-based learning modules to provide breadth to the student’s training experience beyond their particular areas of research focus. During their program, PhD students are required to choose five breadth modules from among available options, at least one of which must be a laboratory module and one a tutorial module. 0.5 FCE from outside the student's research area may substitute for one of the five breadth modules. The student's advisory committee will assist the student in choosing suitable modules.
  • As part of the course requirement for PCL 1003Yo Seminars in Pharmacology, the student must present thesis material in seminars to the Department on two occasions, one of which will take place between two and six months prior to the departmental final oral examination.
  • Each student will participate in a research program and present the results of the investigation as a written thesis. The thesis must be orally defended to the satisfaction of a thesis examination committee.
  • PhD students in other departments who desire to take a minor in pharmacology will be permitted to take one of the listed courses depending on their previous training and space availability in the course. 

Courses

The Department should be consulted each session as to course offerings. Students may also find up-to-date course information on the departmental Web site: www.pharmtox.utoronto.ca/programs/grad/courses.htm. 

PCL 1001Y Systems Pharmacology
PCL 1002Y Graduate Pharmacology
PCL 1003Yo Seminars in Pharmacology (Credit/No Credit)
PCL 1004Y Clinical Pharmacology
PCL 1012H Cognitive Neuropharmacology
PCL 1015H Applied Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics
JFK 1120H Selected Topics in Drug Development I
JFK 1121H Selected Topics in Drug Development II
JFK 1122H Drug Transport Across Biological Membranes
JNP 1014Y Interdisciplinary Toxicology
JNP 1016H Graduate Seminar in Toxicology
JNP 1017H+ Molecular and Biochemical Basis of Toxicology
JNP 1018H+ Current Topics in Molecular and Biochemical Toxicology
JNR 1444Y Fundamentals of Neuroscience: Cellular and Molecular
JPM 1005Y Behavioural Pharmacology
JPY 1007Y Neuropharmacology of Neurotransmitter Receptors
JYG 1555H Topics in Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology

oCourses which may continue over a program. The course is graded when completed.

+ Extended course. For academic reasons, course work is extended into session following academic session in which course is offered. 

Graduate Faculty

Full Members

Usanda Busto - PharmD
Paul Dorian - MSc, MDCH
Susan George - MD, FRCP
Denis Grant - BSc, PhD (Chair)
Larry Grupp - DSc
David Hampson - BS, MS, PhD
Patricia Harper - BSc, MSc, PhD
Shinya Ito - MD, ABCP
Stephen John Kish - PhD
Gideon Koren - MD, FRCP(C)
Krista Lanctot - PhD
Dzung Le - MSc, PhD
Peter Pun Li - PhD
John MacDonald - BSc, PhD
Norton Milgram - BA, MA, PhD
Jane Mitchell - PhD
Malcolm Moore - MD
Claudio Naranjo - MD
Jose Nobrega - BA, MA, PhD
Brian O'dowd - PhD
K Sandy Pang - BScPhm, PhD
John Parker - MD
Peter Pennefather - BSc, PhD
Arturas Petronis - MD, PhD
Micheline Piquette-Miller - BScPhm, PhD
David Riddick - BSc, PhD (Coordinator of Graduate Studies)
Bernard Schimmer - BS, PhD
John Wesley Semple - PhD
Neil Shear - BA, MD, FRCP(C)
Carter Snead III - MD
Denise Tomkins - BSc, PhD
Rachel Tyndale - PhD
Jack Uetrecht - BS, MS, MD, PhD, Canada Research Chair
Jerry Warsh - MD, PhD
James Wells - BScPhm, MSc, PhD
Peter Wells - BScPhm, PharmD
Albert Wong - MD, PhD

Members Emeriti

Willets Burnham - BA, PhD
Laszlo Endrenyi - PhD
Gerald Joseph Goldenberg - MD
Johannes Heersche - BSc, PhD
Tadanobu Inaba - BEng, MSc, PhD
Dezso Kadar - BSc, MSc, PhD
Harold Kalant - MD, PhD
Peter John O'Brien - BSc, MSc, PhD
Allan Okey - BSc, MSc, PhD
Cecil Pace-Asciak - PhD
Philip Seeman - BSc, MSc, MDCH, PhD
Edward Sellers - MD, PhD, FRCP(C)

Associate Members

Rebecca Laposa - PhD
Bernard Le Foll - MD, PhD
Jason Matthews - PhD
J. Peter McPherson - BSc, MSc, PhD
Hee-Won Park - MSc, PhD
Cindy Woodland - BSc, MSc, PhD
Martin Zack - PhD