STUDY PROGRAM FOR DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) DEGREE

A full-time study load is required at all times for a student within the program for a maximum of at least three (3) years in order to comply with the minimum residency requirements. A full-time study load consists of at least nine (9) semester credit hours of courses as indicated in "Requirements at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus in Partial Fulfillment Towards Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees" (Section IV, D., 3 a) or a combination of course and research work which amounts to forty (40) clock-hours per week. Four (4) years of full-time study load is the expected minimum time for completion of all requirements for a Ph.D. Degree. The maximum time limit for the completion of all requirements for the Ph.D. Degree is listed in the Registrar's Office Manual ("Manual de Normas y Procedimientos de la Oficina del Registrador") as five years for students that have a Master Degree upon entering the Ph.D. Program and seven years for students having a Bachelor's Degree.

A total of 45 semester credits of course work plus fifteen (15) semester credits of dissertation research (BCHM 8599) is the minimum requirement for the completion of the Ph.D. Program. Only courses approved with a grade of A, B or P will be taken into account for the total number of credits of course work. The general Biochemistry course BCHM 8500 requirement has to be approved with B (80.0 %) or higher grade. If the student obtains a C grade in the course, he/she can request that a reposition exam be given, which he/she has to pass with a minimum grade of B. This reposition exam will be given before the last date of late registration. Failure to pass with a B grade will automatically cause suspension of the student from the Graduate Program. Evidence of the approval of the reposition exam must be submitted by the Graduate Biochemistry course coordinator to the Graduate Program Coordinator before the next registration period. A student that obtains a C grade in any of the required courses must repeat it. If the C grade is in an elective course the student is required to repeat the course or substitute it for another course with prior approval from the Departmental Graduate Coordinator and the Department Chair. The grade that will be considered towards the departmental requirements will be highest grade while the C will only count towards the GPA. A student whose GPA falls below 3.0 will immediately be put on probation. The student must raise his/her GPA above 3.0 before the end of the semester in which he/she is put on probation. If this requirement is not met, the student will be dismissed from the graduate program. Any course substitution or convalidation must be approved by the advisor/coordinator/chair and by the department faculty respectively.

The student's individual course curriculum will be planned taking into consideration the student's research interests and the Departmental course requirements.

Other advanced courses (departmental or from another department/School or University) may be taken to substitute for only one of the elective courses shown below, upon approval by the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee and the Departmental Chairperson. This course substitution will be done according to the procedure detailed in the Registrar's Office Manual ("Manual de Normas y Procedimientos de la Oficina de Registrador"). It must be noted that course substitution implies that the courses in question are comparable in course content (e.g. Protein Chemistry course for another Protein Chemistry Course).

Graduate courses offered by other departments of the School of Medicine, by the Intercampus Ph.D. Biology Program or other graduate courses offered by graduate science programs of the University of Puerto Rico can also be considered towards fulfilling the 45 semester credit course requirement, pending approval by the dissertation advisor and the Departmental Graduate Committee. Courses taken in mainland or foreign universities during the course of the graduate studies can be transferred following the procedures detailed by the registrar's office.

FINANCIAL AID

Students can apply for Teaching or Research Assistantships during the first year. However, priority is given to those students who are already in the program who are carrying out their research projects. Assistantships can be requested for 10-20 hrs/wk. Approval is granted depending on justifications and availability of funds. Financial aid through special programs such as SCORE, RISE, NIH, EPA, NSF and individual federal or local grants may also be available through individual researchers, under the guidance of individual faculty members. Information on other financial aid is available through the Division of Graduate Studies, or the Dean of Student's Financial Aid Office and through each individual researcher.

ACCREDITATION OF COURSES

Students can request the accreditation of specific courses to be substituted for other courses, however, the final accreditation of these courses will depend on the nature of the course content and will be decided by the faculty. Only graduate courses approved with A or B (or equivalents) in fully accredited institutions and which have been taken no longer than four years before entering the graduate program can be considered for transfer. A maximum of fifteen (15) credits could be approved for transfer by the department. BCHM 8500, and seminars cannot be substituted by any other course except for the Biochemistry course offered by the department to M.D. students (BCHM 8550). Only courses that were not accredited towards a degree can be considered. In order to consider a request for accreditation of courses to students transferring from other institutions or other graduate programs, the student must write a letter stating his/her specific request. In addition he/she must submit an official transcript of his/her academic record and the description of the courses according to the catalog from the University where these were approved. The student also needs to provide a certified letter from the registrar of the University indicating that the courses to be transferred were not used for any other degree. All information needs to be supplied to the Graduate Student Coordinator of the department. This request will be considered by the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee and processed according to the rules and regulations of the Registrar's Office of the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus.

Applicants who have completed a Master's Degree in Biochemistry at the Medical Sciences Campus in the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine can transfer up to twenty four (24) credit hours, taken during the course of studies for the Master's Degree in the said institution, within five (5) years of the application date to the Doctoral Program. Persons with continuous exposure to the field of Biochemistry after obtaining their Master's Degree can request in writing a waiver of this 5-year time limit on Biochemistry courses to the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee and the Departmental Chairman. This waiver will be evaluated by the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee and Departmental Chairperson and informed to the Graduate School Committee for approval before final submission to the Registrar's Office. The final transfer of credits and the substitution of courses will be done following the procedures described by the Registrar's Office Manual ("Manual de Normas y Procedimientos de la Oficina del Registrador") Only graduate Courses approved with A or B will be considered for transfer but not graduate seminars and Masters Thesis.

Applicants who have completed an M.D. degree at the UPR School of Medicine must have taken the MCAT exam and must have passed the USMLE Step I exam. They can transfer up to 12 credits towards the M.S. degree with the approval of the department faculty.
A class program will be designed for these students by the student's mentor in collaboration with the Graduate Student Coordinator with final approval by the Dept. Chairperson.