Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative and Experimental Medicine

Comparative and Experimental Medicine, an intercollegiate program, serves to prepare students for teaching and/or research careers in the health sciences. This program emphasizes the comparative approach to the study of biomedical science. The PhD program is open to approved graduate students seeking training in this area and is especially useful for individuals with professional medical degrees. For the student with an undergraduate biological science background, the Comparative and Experimental Medicine program provides an unusual opportunity to study disease processes common in humans and animals from a multidisciplinary perspective. The scope of this intercollegiate program, which pools faculty resources from both veterinary and human medicine, is broadened by faculty members representing public health and numerous areas of the life sciences. The interdisciplinary training environment includes such diverse support as facilities and personnel at the Veterinary Medical Center, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at Knoxville, life sciences departments, Herbert College of Agriculture, Tickle College of Engineering, and the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. Participating departments from the Graduate School of Medicine include Anesthesia, Dentistry, Medicine, Medical Genetics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology, Radiology, and Surgery. Participating departments from the College of Veterinary Medicine include Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, Large Animal Clinical Sciences, and Small Animal Clinical Sciences.

All applicants must furnish three letters of recommendation from individuals who are familiar with their scholastic or professional records.

Applicants generally will be expected to have a professional degree in one of the medical sciences (e.g., MD, DDS, DVM or equivalent) from an accredited institution or a master’s degree in one of the biomedical sciences and a Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score of at least 300 for the quantitative and verbal sections.

An individual having only a baccalaureate degree but with a strong background in the physical and biological sciences may be admitted upon presenting evidence of exemplary performance on the GRE.

Exceptional veterinary students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, may be admitted to the accelerated dual DVM-PhD program or may continue to be enrolled officially as veterinary students only and register for CEM courses. For the latter, such students may take advantage of registering for graduate courses to be counted as elective courses in the veterinary program.

An applicant requesting admission to the Graduate School may be required to submit results of the TOEFL or IELTS. Minimum score requirements for admission to the Graduate School are:

• a total score of 80 on the internet-based TOEFL (iBT),
• a 6.5 overall band score on the IELTS.

Application Deadline: Spring: June 15