Endocrinology

The main goal of our program is to engage students in the interdisciplinary aspects of the field of endocrinology through seminars, courses, and our diverse faculty research perspectives that range from structural, molecular, and cellular endocrinology through organismal and comparative endocrinology to chemical ecology. Graduates from our endocrinology program have transitioned into careers in a variety of fields including education, research in both academic and industry settings, government regulation, and private business.

The faculty associated with the Graduate Group in Endocrinology leading to the MA and the Ph.D. degrees have diverse interests representing endocrinology in the broadest sense: chemical mediators in the living world directed by autocrine, paracrine, endocrine, and ectohormonal factors. Our program faculty encompasses hormone-oriented research programs such as cancer biology, signal transduction, drug design, membrane biology, virology, metabolism, differentiation, morphogenesis, toxicology, and gene transcription. Graduates from our endocrinology program have transitioned into careers in a variety of fields including education, research in both academic and industry settings, government regulation, and private business.

Students who plan to work for higher degrees in endocrinology at Berkeley will be guided by a graduate adviser and by the professor who directs their research (mentor). The graduate advisor and mentor will ascertain whether students have met the minimum requirements, will recommend to prospective candidates what additional courses to take, will decide with them the fields to be covered in the qualifying examinations, and will act generally in an advisory capacity. The candidates are expected to have completed an undergraduate major in some area of animal biology leading to the BA or BS degree.

To advance to candidacy for the Ph.D., students must complete all requirements, including passage of an oral qualifying examination.