Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Profile

History and Purpose
The UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) trains all the future PhD and MS biomedical scientists from the UT Health Science Center and UT M D Anderson Cancer Center at Houston, as well as all the combined MD/PhD graduates. Authorized by the 58th Legislature in 1963, its mission is to train and educate research scientists and scientist-educators, to generate new knowledge in the biomedical sciences that will be translated into improved health, and to increase public understanding of science. In essence, the school provides for the workforce needs of Texans and the nation in these areas.

Originally established as the academic arm of The UT M D Anderson Cancer Institute, GSBS has become an important academic bridge between several Texas Medical Center institutions. The GSBS conjoins UTHSC-H and UT M D Anderson Cancer Center as well as Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology. Through its highly collaborative graduate education programs, the GSBS adopted an interdisciplinary approach to graduate education that provides broad-based training in the biomedical sciences, as well as in-depth training in the area of a student’s thesis and dissertation research.

Following a basic core of required courses, students may choose one from 17 formal programs, or design a highly individualized degree plan of study toward a PhD, MD/PhD, or MS degree. This educational structure enables students to conduct their research in a traditional discipline or in newly developing inter- or multi-disciplinary areas. This flexible approach provides both depth and breadth in training in the biomedical sciences and serves to attract some of the best and brightest students as well as faculty, which results in the growth of an immense intellectual resource for Texas.

Instructional Programs
The vast Texas Medical Center faculty and facilities are at the fingertips of GSBS students. As listed in the catalog, areas of study include biochemistry, biomathematics and biostatistics, biophysics, cancer biology, cell biology, molecular carcinogenesis, genes and development, human and molecular genetics, immunology, integrative biology, microbiology and molecular genetics, molecular biology, molecular pathology, neuroscience, pharmacology, physiology, radiation biology, regulatory biology, reproductive biology, toxicology, virology and gene therapy. In addition there are two specialized master degree programs: genetic counseling and medical physics.
Currently there are 555 full-time faculty. This large and distinguished group includes the 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, two Lasker Award winners, and numerous recipients of other honors, awards and professional recognition. Faculty from our combined participating institutions consistently receive more than $175 million in research support annually from the National Institutes of Health, giving them (and the GSBS) a rank in the top 1-2 percent of NIH funding in the world.

The Fall 2006 student body of 544 includes approximately one-third of its population from Texas, one-third from other parts of the United States, and one-third who are international students, with an equal number of men and women. Current GSBS students are offered over $1 million in scholarship awards and stipend support for scholastic excellence and research achievement.

Facilities
The Graduate School, including the Dean’s Office and Administrative personnel, is permanently located in the new George and Cynthia Mitchell Basic Sciences Research Building where it is housed in the June & Virgil Waggoner Academic Hall. Complete with state of the art classrooms, computer lab, auditorium, and telecom capabilities for beaming classes and lectures around the globe, it is geared for a growing and dynamic student population.

Following first year classes in a broad range of biomedical sciences and research ethics, many didactic teaching and training activities of the GSBS are conducted in lecture rooms and laboratories where faculty members hold their primary academic appointments. These include facilities at other UTHSC-H components, UT M D Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, Texas Woman’s University and the University of Houston. The Graduate School’s intellectually rich and cooperative environment provides GSBS students the opportunity and challenge to develop research projects which will prepare them for the rapidly changing nature of health care needs and to find the solutions for the future.

Organization Chart

See larger image.