Applicable only to students admitted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

School of Medicine

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine offers the Master of Science (M.S.)and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Cellular and Molecular Pathology.

Admission

Program Name

Cellular and Molecular Pathology

Applicants may apply to the PhD program through UCLA Access to Programs in the Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences.

Address

10833 Le Conte Avenue
Room 1P-171 CHS

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1732 

Phone

310-206-1770, 310-825-8119 

Email

dsmoot@mednet.ucla.edu  / ckkim@mednet.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

M.S., Ph.D.

The department does not admit students whose sole objective is the master's degree. 

Master's Degree

Advising

Students should consult with their thesis adviser before enrolling in courses each quarter.

Areas of Study

Consult the department.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Students must complete the core courses and the six elective units required for all students in the doctoral program. The minimum total number of units required for the M.S. degree is 36, and the minimum number of graduate units required is 35. Students may apply up to eight units of coursework in the 500 series toward the overall unit requirement; four units of coursework in the 500 series may be applied toward the graduate unit requirement.

Teaching Experience

Students should consult the department.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

None.

Thesis Plan

Every master's degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research.

Students must be formally advanced to candidacy to receive the master's degree. Students must execute an original scholarly research project. This project must be approved by a committee of three faculty. Students then must write up the project as a thesis which requires approval of the same committee. The student and the faculty adviser must select two other faculty members for the committee. Members of the committee must be in the department. Students should consult the department for further details.

Time-to-Degree

Consult the department.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

During year one the student is assigned an adviser by the ACCESS Program. In years two and beyond the faculty member who will guide the dissertation research serves as the student's research mentor. The doctoral committee, chosen by the student and research mentor, also provides guidance to the student. This committee must be appointed by December 1 during the first quarter following matriculation into the doctoral program. The graduate program adviser is also available for consultation throughout a student's graduate study.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Consult the graduate adviser.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

ACCESS Program first year requirements:

Fall Quarter: Biological Chemistry 254A-254B, one laboratory rotation.

Winter Quarter: Biological Chemistry 254C-254D, one laboratory rotation.

Spring Quarter: A choice of a 200-level elective courses (a total of six units of elective courses is required) from the elective list, available in the ACCESS Program office or website, one laboratory rotation.

A course in research ethics, Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics C234, must also be taken during Spring Quarter. Students must complete the core curriculum and choose a laboratory by the end of the summer of the first year.

Cellular and Molecular Pathology Program second year requirements:

The second year of study marks the student's initial year in the departmental graduate program. The program core coursework requirements are Pathology and Laboratory Medicine M237 and either 1) three approved Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 298 seminars (at least one of which must focus on the mechanism(s) of disease, 2) one approved Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 298 seminar and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 294, or 3) one approved Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 298 seminar and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 240. Other course options are possible but must be approved by the graduate program adviser.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine M237 may be taken as an ACCESS elective course during Spring Quarter of the first year. In this case, the student is required to take an equivalent course to meet the program's core coursework requirement. Other advanced didactic courses (four units or more, lecture not seminar format) count as substitutes.

Teaching Experience

For ACCESS students only, two quarters of successful teaching are required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

The written qualifying examination consists of the submission of a written proposal in the form of a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant. This proposal may be on a topic related or unrelated to the general interest of the laboratory. In the former, the proposal must be different from the anticipated dissertation proposal. The University Oral Qualifying Examination consists of an oral defense of the written proposal. The proposal must be submitted and orally defended by June 1 of year three of graduate study. Students who do not pass the examination may retake it six months later.

Following successful completion of the examinations and advancement to candidacy, students are required to meet with their doctoral committee on an annual basis to discuss the progress of their dissertation work. In addition, students are strongly encouraged to attend laboratory meetings in which they discuss their work, and to participate in seminar or journal clubs in their research area.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

The expected total time-to-degree for the program is five years, as follows:

From admission into the ACCESS Program to advancement to doctoral candidacy: eight to nine quarters

From advancement to candidacy to the final oral examination: eight to nine quarters, including summers in between

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

None.