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PhD Programs

Students apply and are admitted into the graduate school, not an individual program. This allows students to explore their interests and develop as scientists in an area of research that best fits their interests and long term career objectives. Students must affiliate with one of 9 PhD programs within their first year at GSBS.

MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) is a partnership between two institutions: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).  The strength of our faculty and the incredible resources found in the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world, provide cutting-edge research programs, a curriculum that develops scientific potential and critical/analytical thinking, and training that prepares our students for top positions across the biomedical workforce. Students pursuing their PhD degree at the GSBS may work with outstanding faculty at both MD Anderson Cancer Center and UTHealth.  

Our faculty’s research interests include basic and translational research in areas such as biochemistry, biostatistics, bioinformatics, cancer biology, cell biology, developmental biology, epigenetics, genetics, genomics, immunology, medical physics, microbiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, pharmacology, systems biology and therapeutics.

Students may select from a number of different academic programs representing the above areas.  A unique feature of our school is that applicants are admitted as “undifferentiated" graduate students who may choose their specialization depending on their scientific interests.  This umbrella admissions process allows considerable flexibility such that matriculating PhD students are not committed to a specific program, but rather may use their three first-year rotations to explore any GSBS lab.  Students interested in learning more about any specific program should contact:

GSBS PhD Programs Directory
Program Director(s) Co-Director(s) Program Coordinator
Cancer Biology Dr. Jian Hu

Dr. Honami Naora

Dr. Cassian Yee

Dawn Wolf-Taylor

Genetics & Epigenetics Dr. Francesca Cole Dr. Rachel Miller Amy Carter
Immunology Dr. Seyed Moghaddam Dr. Florencia McAllister Ariel Scott
Medical Physics Dr. Rebecca Howell Dr. Kyle Jones Lisa Echeverry

Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Dr. William Margolin Dr. Anna Konovalova Carolyn Agurcia-Parker

Molecular & Translational Biology

Dr. Harry Karmouty-Quintana Dr. Kristin Eckel-Mahan Amanda Williamson
Neuroscience Dr. Kartik Venkatachalam Dr. Rodrigo Morales Amanda Williamson
Quantitative Sciences Dr. Traver Hart

Dr. Nidhi Sahni

Dr. Peng Wei

Ariel Scott

Therapeutics & Pharmacology Dr. Ali Azhdarinia

Dr. Sunil Krishnan

Dawn Wolf-Taylor