The Department of Otolaryngology offers predoctoral training leading to the Ph.D. degree through the Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP). Students can get training in the hearing sciences in any of the basic science laboratories of the Oregon Hearing Research Center (OHRC); graduate students belong to the NGP, though students may come from other degree granting departments or programs.

Prospective students apply directly to the NGP, not to individual laboratories. In the first year of their training in the NGP, predoctoral Ph.D. candidates are involved in course work and are fully supported by the program. At the end of the first year, candidates join a laboratory where they will carry out their Ph.D. research. Because the NGP's qualifying exam includes preparation of an NIH individual fellowship-style proposal (NRSA) of their thesis research, NGP students will be well prepared for submission of a pre-doctoral NRSA, which could provide funding by the third or fourth year.

To cover the gap between when graduate students begin their thesis work and complete their qualifying exams, the Otolaryngology Training Grant funds one candidate per year. These funds encourage predoctoral candidates to choose the best laboratory for them in the training program, without basing their decision on the amount of laboratory support.

For more information about our predoctoral training opportunities, please contact the Director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program, Peter Gillespie (gillespp@ohsu.edu).