College of Veterinary Medicine

Degree Requirements and Core Curriculum

All students in the doctoral program in Anatomy and Physiology are required to meet the following degree requirements:

  • Enrollment for a minimum of 3 years*;
  • Completion of a minimum of 90 credit hours that include a Core Curriculum and a Tracked Curriculum (see following sections);
  • Dissertation representing a minimum of 30 credit hours of research credit (AP999).

*Although the Graduate School requires enrollment in a minimum of 2 semesters each year, the Program strongly recommends students to enroll for Fall, Spring, and Summer terms.

Core Curriculum:

All PhD students in Anatomy and Physiology complete a Core Curriculum. The Core Curriculum comprises the following courses, totaling 11+ credit hours.

  • AP803 – Seminar (3 semesters at 1 hour/semester), 3 h total
  • AP896 – Introduction to Responsible Conduct of Biomedical Research, 2 h
  • One graduate statistics course, either:
    • STAT701 – Fundamental Methods in Biostatistics, 3 h
    • STAT703 – Statistical Methods for Natural Scientists
  • At least 3 hours of graduate physiology courses, examples:
    • AP737 – Intro to Cell Physiology, 2 hours
    • AP743 – Systems Physiology, 4 hours
    • AP805 – Veterinary Cell Physiology, 3 hours
    • AP807 – Integrated Physiological Systems I, 5 hours
    • AP817 – Integrated Physiological Systems II, 3 hours

Tracked Curricula:

All PhD students are required to complete one of the following tracks:

Anatomy Track (11 h)

  • AP806 – Gross Anatomy I, 6 h
  • AP816 – Gross Anatomy II, 5 h

Animal Welfare Track (9 h)

  • AP835 – Animal Care and Welfare, 1 hour
  • AP855 – Observing and Analyzing Animal Behavior, 1 hour
  • AP897 – Problems in Animal Welfare, 1 hour
  • DMP815 – Multidisciplinary Thought and Presentation, 3 hours
  • CS830 – Design and Interpretation of Clinical Trials, 3 hours

Physiology Track (11 h)

  • AP805 – Cell Physiology, 3 h
  • AP807 – Integrative Physiological Systems I, 5 h
  • AP817 – Integrative Physiological Systems II, 3 h

Pharmacology Track (6 h)

  • AP844 – Pharmacology I, 4 h
  • AP846 – Pharmacology II, 2 h

Toxicology Track (15 h)

  • BIOCH755 – Biochemistry I, 3 h
  • BIOCH765 – Biochemistry II, 3 h
  • AP845 – Toxicology, 2 h
  • AP802 – Advanced Toxicology, 3 h
  • AP830 – Toxins in the Biological System, 2 h
  • AP831 – Current Topics in Toxicology, 2 h


Elective Courses:

On consultation with the major professor and Supervisory Committee, the student chooses appropriate elective courses offered in the Graduate Catalog.