Our Program

The Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) at OHSU aims to train predoctoral students in modern neuroscience concepts and techniques.  The large faculty (140+ strong) has expertise in all areas of neuroscience, including molecular, cellular, systems, behavioral, and medical neuroscience.  The curriculum is flexible and courses are largely completed in the first year, permitting students to focus on the essence of graduate training -- independent research in a mentor's laboratory -- as soon as possible. 

Students arrive in Portland between July and September; early arrivals take advantage of the delightful Portland summer and can carry out one or more laboratory rotations. In September, attendance at the annual NGP Retreat is highly recommended.

Courses start at the end of September. The first-year curriculum, a series of courses that all students take, emphasizes all aspects of neuroscience (cellular, molecular, systems, and disease). The program emphasizes training in reading and dissecting the primary literature, the focus of the seminar course. Students also participate in laboratory rotations in the first year, using these rotations to help choose a thesis lab. During the first year, students are advised by faculty members, who guide them through courses, including advanced electives and rotations.

At the end of the first year, students take a comprehensive written exam, which tests students both on their grasp of the neuroscience core curriculum and on their skills in understanding neuroscience papers. At the beginning of the third year, students take the oral qualifying exam, which allows them to become a Ph.D. candidate. The qualifying exam consists of a written component, which is a thesis proposal in the format of an NRSA grant, and an oral defense. An optional writing course sponsored by the Vollum Institute is of great use to many students in preparing for the written exam.

Subsequently, the student chooses a thesis exam committee, who guides their dissertation research. Students are evaluated at several points during their participation in the program, and are subjected to several yearly requirements, including a thesis committee meeting and a talk on their research.

Finally, the culmination of a student's graduate career is the assembly of a written Ph.D. thesis and its oral defense.

Following graduation, most NGP students go on to postdoctoral fellowships; although the program is relatively new, NGP graduates have become successful in academics.