Requirement for Degree and Timetable

All students will be admitted to the program with the understanding that they are working toward a Ph.D. degree. They will be assigned a faculty advisor by the Program Director upon entry. The faculty advisor will assist the student in defining educational and career goals, in designing the plan of study, and in picking first year lab rotations (3 required).

At the end of the first year, each student, in consultation with his/her advisor, will assemble a graduate committee. The committee will consist of the dissertation advisor, two other Cancer Biology department members, one member of the Graduate School faculty in a related area of research from within or outside the department, and a fifth member from outside the department representing the Graduate Council. This committee will administer the preliminary and final examinations in addition to approving the dissertation research proposal/project and the dissertation. The chairperson should be a departmental faculty member other than the dissertation advisor. Graduate committees will be responsible for monitoring students' progress and will meet with the students at least once per semester for such purpose.

Once students have passed the required cancer biology and collateral coursework (usually after the spring semester of the second year) with grades of B or higher, they will be eligible to enter the Ph.D. candidacy qualifying process. It is the responsibility of the graduate committee to insure that each student is eligible for the qualifying examination. After completion of coursework requirements, each student will also submit a brief outline of the dissertation research proposal to the graduate committee. The outline will be reviewed for suitability with the student by the committee. This will be followed in six weeks by submission of a formal dissertation proposal, using the NIH grant submission format. Approximately three weeks later, each student will defend the dissertation proposal for the committee. A satisfactory proposal defense will be the final requirement to enter Ph.D. degree candidacy.

All prospective students should consult the Bulletin of the Wake Forest University Graduate School for official policies and procedures of the School. This description of degree requirements found above pertains to the special standards of the Cancer Biology Graduate Program.