Graduate work in the School of Medicine falls under the auspices of the Division of Graduate Studies and is carried out In close coordination with its Basic Sciences Departments. An Advisory Graduate Committee composed of Departmental chairmen, Program Directors, Graduate Faculty and student representatives advises the Director of the Graduate Division on all graduate matter. The Director, in consultation with the Graduate Committee, is responsible for the setting standards of excellence and the quality of all graduate programs. The Graduate Division has final responsibility for both the academic standards and uniform degree requirements of all programs within the basic sciences.

The Division of Graduate Studies grants the academic degrees of Master of Sciences (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the Departments of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Nutrition, Microbiology and Medical Zoology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Physiology and Biophysics. In addition to the basic requirements, it establishes additional requirements. Within each Department, however, individual latitude is permitted of the choice of areas of study and final program selection. All students are encouraged to utilize the full spectrum of available university resources throughout their graduate career.

Graduate degrees are granted after presentation of evidence that the student is capable of independent investigation leading to an original contribution to his/her chosen scientific field of interest, as judged by the Thesis Committee and approved by the Graduate Committee.

An Intercampus Ph.D. in Biology is also offered by the University of Puerto Rico with resources provided by the Río Piedras Campus (Department of Biology and the Resources Center for Science and Engineering, College of Natural Sciences) and the Medical Science Campus (Basic Sciences Departments of the School of Medicine, the Laboratory of Neurobiology and the Caribbean Primate Research Center).