This program's mission is to provide students with:

  • Advanced knowledge in current concepts in molecular, cellular, and genetic processes that contribute to the development and treatment of cancer
  • Specialized training in experimental methodology used to study cancer in a laboratory setting
  • Required shadowing of clinical oncologists to help identify clinically-relevant research questions leading to projects with a potential impact on cancer patients

Learn about our program's curriculum

Curriculum Overview

The Graduate College requires the satisfactory completion of 72 semester hours in order to obtain a Ph.D.

Required Courses

For the first year, students take common courses with other Biomedical Science students.

Cancer is a term that encompasses over 210 different types of malignancies, each with a unique set of biological, etiological, and clinical features. Cancer researchers continue to widen their scope as more is learned, requiring a breadth of knowledge in many areas of research (e.g. cell biology, genetics, immunology, and cell metabolism) to understand the complexities of cancer etiology and treatment.

The Cancer Biology Program provides this knowledge through classroom and research training leading to a PhD degree, and preparing students for a variety of career paths in academic, clinical, and industry environments dealing with the study and/or treatment of cancer.

A campus visual from the Carver College of Medicine outdoor lawn space.

Ready to apply?

You can learn more about the application process and requirements here.

Events

REDCap Surveys Training

Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00am to 11:00am
Virtual

This is the third step in the REDCap training series. In this training, we will cover survey configuration and distribution such as:

Allowing potential participants to self-initiate participation in your study with public surveys

Manually and automatically sending surveys

Administering electronic consent (e-consent) forms

Controlling survey access with conditional logic and survey login

This training is a demo and not hands-on. After this training you will have a basic understanding of surveys in...

Internal Medicine Grand Rounds 11/05/2026

Thursday, November 5, 2026 12:00pm to 1:00pm
General Hospital

Care after acute kidney injury: What the non-nephrologist needs to know
Kathleen Liu, MD, PhD, MAS, University of California, San Francisco

Health Sciences Research Day 2026 promotional image

Health Sciences Research Day 2026

Thursday, November 5, 2026 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Medical Education Research Facility

The Carver College of Medicine Office of Research will celebrate and showcase the breadth of research taking place on campus at the 2026 Health Sciences Research Day. This event features keynote speaker David Clapham, MD, PhD, a poster session, and a reception. Come see what your friends and colleagues are discovering!

We encourage all researchers, faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students to participate in the poster session.
Abstracts must be submitted
...