Doctor of Philosophy Program in Physiology and Biophysics
Department of Physiology and Biophysics (PHBI)
Date: 2007-04-24
Program Administration:
Oversight of the Ph.D. program is provided by the Graduate Committee of the department.
Academic questions should be directed to the Chair of the Committee:
Harvey Kaslow, Associate Professor
100 RMR. Phone = 323-442-1244. Email = hrkaslow@usc.edu.
Administrative questions should be directed to: Ms. Elena Camarena
619 MMR. Phone = 323-442-1039. Email = ecamaren@usc.edu.
Course work pertinent to the program:
 A minimum of 60 units of graduate study are required for the Ph.D. degree.
 Students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 or better and achieve a minimum grade of B
(3.0) or “Pass” or “Credit” in courses shown below.
 Students may be required to pass a screening examination to progress to the third semester of
graduate study.
 To advance to candidacy, students must pass the written and oral portions of a qualifying
examination approved by the PHBI Graduate Committee to formally demonstrate that he or
she is qualified to conduct independent research.
 Upon completion of an independent dissertation research project, Ph.D. candidates must
submit a written dissertation and make an oral defense of the work according to requirements
approved by the PHBI Graduate Committee and the USC Graduate School.
Specific course requirements: * indicates a grade of B or Pass/Credit or better required):
Directed Research (normally in thesis advisor’s laboratory prior to
advancing to candidacy)
*PHBI 590
8 units
*PHBI 608
*PHBI 550
see note1 Advanced Cellular, Molecular, and Systemic Physiology and/or
see note1 Seminar in Systems Biology and Disease
*PHBI 790
15 units
Thesis research (begins after advancement to candidacy)
*INTD 572
4 units
Systems Physiology and Disease – 1
*INTD 573
4 units
Systems Physiology and Disease – 2
INTD 510L
4 units
Principles of Biostatistics
INTD 500
1 unit
Ethics and Accountability in Biomedical Research
4 units
4 units
Cell Biology
Biochemistry
4 units
4 units
Advanced Neurosciences I
Advanced Neurosciences II
and either:
INTD 531
INTD 571
or:
NEUR 524
NEUR 525
1
Beginning in the second year of enrollment, all students are expected to enroll in 2 units per year of PHBI 608,
PHBI 550, or a similar course approved by the Graduate Committee.
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Expected rate of progress towards fulfillment of requirements for awarding of the Ph.D. for
students beginning enrollment in a Fall term.
Years 1 and 2:
Satisfy course requirements for PHBI 590, INTD 572, INTD 573,
INTD 510L, INTD 500, and either INTD 531, INTD 571 or NEUR 524,
NEUR 525. Begin enrollment in PHBI 608 or PHI 550.
Yr 2 Spring term:
Constitute the Ph.D. Guidance Committee
Summer following Yr 2:
First attempt to pass the Qualifying Examination.
If the student does not pass, a second attempt may be allowed 6
months after the first attempt.
Formation of a Ph.D. Dissertation Committee occurs immediately after
the student passes the Qualifying Examination.
Years 3-7
Annual Review Presentations
Enrollment in PHBI 550 or PHBI 608
Dissertation Defense and awarding of the Ph.D. degree.
Ph.D. Guidance Committee: the Committee shall satisfy the requirements of the Graduate School
of the University: a minimum of five tenured or tenure track USC faculty, three of whom must be from
the home department, at least one of whom must be tenured, and an Outside Member from a
different Ph.D. granting department at USC. The student’s thesis advisor serves as chair of the
committee. Consult the USC catalogue for the Graduate School to identify additional requirements.
The Qualifying Examination Part 1 may not be reported as being passed if there is more than one
dissenting vote. If the student has not passed, a second session shall be scheduled. If a second
session is scheduled, at the discretion of the Committee, the student shall make a presentation
evaluating the same or a different hypothesis. If after the second session more than one member of
the Committee fails to vote in favor of passing the student, then the student shall no longer be eligible
to enroll in the program, and at the discretion of the Graduate Committee these students may be
eligible to receive a Master’s in Physiology and Biophysics.
Qualifying Examination: the Qualifying Examination shall be conducted by the Ph.D. Guidance
Committee and consist of an evaluation of a project that is anticipated to become the thesis project of
the student. While preliminary data generated by the student can be helpful, there is no requirement
that the proposal rely on such preliminary data. The examination consists of two parts:
A. The proposal document with six sections.
1. An brief background leading to a hypothesis worthy of consideration.
2. Additional background and discussion of the significance of testing the hypothesis.
3. Published and unpublished data supporting or rejecting hypothesis.
4. A proposed practical experimental approach to further test the hypothesis in light of
available resources.
5. Specific experiments the student plans to perform in the next several months, and plans
for future research efforts based on likely outcomes of these experiments.
6. Literature cited.
The document shall be distributed to the Committee and a copy provided to the office of the
department not less than two weeks prior to the oral examination regarding the project. If the
document is not provided by that date, then the oral examination shall be rescheduled to
accommodate this requirement. The document shall be double-spaced. Section 1 should not
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exceed two pages. Sections 1-5 should not exceed 20 pages. There is no page limit for
Section 6.
B. The oral examination: the candidate shall deliver an oral presentation presenting the
contents of the above proposal document. By asking questions, the committee shall determine if
THE STUDENT has sufficient mastery of material to allow for largely independent execution or
direction of the proposal.
The Qualifying Examination may not be reported as being passed if there is more than one
dissenting vote. Students are expected to pass the Qualifying Examination before enrolling in the
third year of study (i.e., before enrolling in the Fall term of the third year of enrollment for students
entering in a Fall term). In the event the student has not passed by that time, and an extension has
not been approved by a majority of all members of the Graduate Committee, it shall be recorded that
the student did not pass the Qualifying Examination. A second opportunity to pass shall be
scheduled according the policies of the Graduate School. Normally, students not passing the
Qualifying Examination by the end of the 37 months of enrollment will no longer be eligible to remain
enrolled in the program. Only upon receiving a written petition from a student not passing the
Qualifying Examination by the end of 37 months of enrollment will the Graduate Committee consider
whether or not the student is eligible to receive a Master’s degree or re-enroll in the Ph.D. program.
Ph.D. Dissertation Committee: upon passing the Qualifying Examination, the student advances to
candidacy, the Ph.D. Guidance Committee ceases its work and oversight of the student’s progress is
passed on to the Ph.D. Dissertation Committee. The Committee shall satisfy the requirements of the
Graduate School of the University: the Committee shall consist of at least three tenure-track faculty,
one of whom serves as the student’s thesis advisor and chair of the committee, and least one of
whom must be tenured. The Committee must also include an Outside Member from a different Ph.D.
granting department at USC. Consult the USC catalogue for the Graduate School to identify
additional requirements.
Annual Review Presentation: either in fulfillment of requirements for PHBI 608 or PHBI 550, or in
some other forum deemed appropriate by the Graduate Committee, the student shall annually make
a public presentation to the Guidance or Dissertation Committee regarding progress towards
fulfillment of the requirements of the Ph.D. program.
Dissertation Defense:
The dissertation defense shall consist of an evaluation of the thesis project and be of two parts:
1. The dissertation document. The dissertation document shall be distributed to the
Dissertation Committee and a copy provided to the office of the department not less than two weeks
prior to the oral defense of the thesis. If the document is not provided by that time, then the oral
defense shall be rescheduled so that there is at least a two week interval between submission of the
document and the oral examination. Students are encouraged to provide committee members with
drafts of the dissertation beginning two months before the oral examination to receive input regarding
the document.
2. The oral defense: the candidate orally presents the results of the thesis project. By asking
questions, the committee shall determine if THE STUDENT has sufficient mastery of material and
was sufficiently independent in the execution and direction of the work. The oral defense shall
be held in public, and be announced to the University community with at least thirty days notice.
Passing the Dissertation Defense requires approval of both parts of the defense by the Dissertation
Committee. Regarding the dissertation defense, the Catalog of the Graduate School states:
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“This defense will be conducted in such a manner as to determine to the unanimous
satisfaction of the dissertation committee that the candidate has attained the stage of scholarly
advancement and power of investigation demanded by the university for final recommendation to
the doctorate.
“While the oral examination is open to the general university community, only the members of
the dissertation committee shall have the authority to recommend acceptance of the dissertation.
During the oral defense, all members of the dissertation committee must be present and must
render a judgment on the student’s defense. The recommendation must be unanimous.”
Students are expected to successfully defend their dissertation by the end of the seventh year
of study. Students not successfully defending their dissertation by the end of the seventh year of
study will no longer be eligible to enroll in the program unless a petition to extend enrollment for one
additional year is approved by a majority vote of all members of the Dissertation Committee and a
majority vote of all members of the Graduate Committee. Enrollment can then be extended on an
annual basis by the same procedure for not more than ten years of enrollment.
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