UCLA Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology Interdepartmental PhD program

The Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology (MCIP) program is an interdepartmental Ph.D. program that brings together a large group of renowned faculty to educate the next generation of scientists to explore complex biological functions. We provide our students with access to cutting-edge technology and guidance to prepare them for their own independent careers in biomedical and life science research. The primary objective of the MCIP PhD program is to train a new generation of physiologists who apply modern knowledge in molecular and cellular biology and systems physiology to important questions in organismic function. Students learn to conceptualize physiological questions across several levels of organization and to understand how research strategies incorporating each of the levels of analysis can be formulated. This approach to physiology education is responsive to the need for physiologists who can intellectually and technically span disciplines related to physiology that are typically separated. The heart of the program is the research that leads to the dissertation, which is performed under the guidance of a faculty mentor. The program faculty includes more than 100 professors in the David Geffen School of Medicine and College of Letters and Science. Our program is placed at the top of the National Research Council’s list of Ph.D. programs in Physiology.