Nivia L. Pérez-Acevedo, Ph.D.
Interim Associate Dean of Biomedical Sciences
and Director of Graduate Program
nivia.perez@upr.edu
Welcome to the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program (BSGP) at the University of Puerto Rico- Medical Science Campus (MSC), where education and research are our highest priority. Our goal is to educate individuals dedicated to pursuing an exciting and rewarding career in an academic environment leading to excellence in research and teaching. We are the only academic institution in Puerto Rico that offers programs leading to a Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees with specialties in our basic departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology & Zoology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Physiology. In addition, we provide doctoral degree sub-specialties (tracks) in Neuroscience, Virology, and Molecular Genetics. Moreover, we support combined MD/Ph.D. degrees programs in our academic institution or in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Our BSGP cosponsor an intercampus Ph.D. program with the Department of Biology at the Río Piedras Campus.
We have an outstanding, motivated, and experienced faculty who has taken a leadership role in and outside Puerto Rico. These qualifications guarantee a comprehensive and stimulating environment for our students to foster careers in research and/or the academic arena. The faculty of our graduate programs promote interdisciplinary collaboration between basic and clinical scientists (within Puerto Rico and investigators around the world) in an effort to broaden the exposure of our students beyond what is traditionally expected in biomedical research. Students participate in a wide variety of courses, seminars, workshops, and similar activities scheduled by our five departments. We currently have over 100 doctoral and master students that have been exposed to the most recent discoveries at the molecular and system level, state-of-the-art instruments, and techniques. Our well-trained graduates obtain positions in the pharmaceutical industry, teaching institutions (colleges and/or universities), and postdoctoral positions in Puerto Rico or in main research institutions in the USA mainland.
We invite you to navigate through this web page as a place where you can find news, forms for admission, policies, procedures, and other information related to our graduate program. No matter which of our five Biomedical Science departments you concentrate in, or how ambitious your goals are, I am confident that you will find our BSGP an exciting and supportive environment to pursue your graduate training and personal goals.
