About the Master of Science or PhD in Pharmacology and Physiology Program

Pharmacology examines and characterizes the action of drugs in humans and animals. It emphasizes the therapeutic responses of drugs, their mechanisms of action, the fate of drugs in the body, potential adverse reactions, and drug-drug interactions. Physiology considers processes that control and regulate the functioning of systems within an intact organism.

Basic physiological processes underlie all fields in biomedical science. Understanding and exploiting the specific actions of drugs can also furnish a way to probe physiological and biochemical processes in both normal and pathological circumstances. Research in pharmacology and physiology provides challenging and exciting opportunities for graduate study.

The Pharmacology and Physiology (PHPH) program offers graduate courses leading to the MS and the PhD. Both degrees require independent research under the direction of faculty members in the department, who are engaged in highly active research programs involving molecular, cellular and behavioral approaches to experimental pharmacology and physiology in a strongly collaborative environment.

Learn more about the curriculum and program requirements

Our Students and Alumni

Welcome to Our First-Year Students

First-year students in the Pharmacology & Physiology program
Left to right: Josh Harkins, Gabriel Elias, Brianna Owens and Eli Vanlal

Meet Janssen-Drexel 4D Fellow Hieu Jeromy

"I moved here to the United States from Vietnam when I was a 10-year-old. I got my undergraduate degree in health sciences from Drexel. During that time, I became interested in pharmacology and physiology because I lost my dad to cancer. He was on so many treatments like chemotherapy, and it made me interested to find out what he was taking. I had wanted to go to medical school, but my perspective changed after I saw how his treatment went." Read more.

Stacia Lewandowski,Drexel Pharmacology and Physiology Program Class of 2021

Meet Stacia Lewandowski, PhD '21

"My initial interest in the Pharmacology and Physiology Department was partly due to their involvement in the Drug Discovery and Development program. I had always wanted to go into biopharma, and the opportunity to take classes in drug discovery was exciting to me. Additionally, a big draw for me was the work that Dr. Ole Mortensen was doing, and after meeting him I knew I wanted to work in his lab." Read more.

Summer Potluck

The Pharmacology & Physiology graduate students held a potluck to celebrate the return to the lab this summer.

Pharmacology and Physiology program students at a potluck, summer 2022.

Recent Student Achievements

Deepa Reddy at the 2025 MAPS Annual Meeting

2025 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society Meeting Awards

Deepa Reddy, a PhD student in the Ajit Lab, won first prize in the graduate student poster category at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society Annual Meeting, which was held on October 24, 2025, in Philadelphia.

Journal of Neuroscience

Chunta Ho, Jared Luchetta, Bradley Nash and Lindsay K. Festa (all Meucci Lab members) had their work chosen for the June 11, 2025, cover of the Journal of Neuroscience.

2025 Philadelphia Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience Award

Congratulations to Wesley Corey, a Pharmacology & Physiology program PhD student in the Sanz-Clemente Lab, who earned second place in the graduate student poster competition at the at the 2025 Philadelphia Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting.

2025 ASPET Meeting Awards

The Pharmacology and Physiology program was well represented at the recent American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) 2025 meeting in Portland, Oregon. Breanna Channer, Marzieh Daniali, Simran Gill and Katelyn Reeb received ASPET travel awards. Tofunmi Oteju and Clara Xu received Daniel T. O’Connor Young Investigator Travel Awards from the Catecholamine Society. Katelyn Reeb won best graduate student poster presentation award in the neuropharmacology division. Congratulations to all!

Read more student achievements

Recent Student Publications

"Responsible Genes for Neuronal Migration in the Chromosome 17p13.3: Beyond Pafah1b1(Lis1), Crk and Ywhae(14-3-3ε)"
Xiaonan Liu, Sarah A. Bennison, Lozen Robinson, Kazuhito Toyo-Oka
Brain Sci. 2022, 12, 56

"Mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders"
Irollo E, Luchetta J, Ho C, Nash B, Meucci O
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2021 May;78(9):4283-4303

"Human mini brains and spinal cords in a dish: Modeling strategies, current challenges, and prospective advances"
Kofman, S., Mohan, N., Sun, X., Ibric, L., Piermarini, E., Qiang, L.
Journal of tissue engineering, 13, 20417314221113391. (2022)

"Double life: How GRK2 and β-arrestin signaling participate in diseases"
Zhai R, Snyder J, Montgomery S, Sato PY
Cell Signal. 2022 Jun;94:110333

"Myocardial GRK2 Reduces Fatty Acid Metabolism and β-Adrenergic Receptor-Mediated Mitochondrial Responses"
Zhai R, Varner EL, Rao A, Karhadkar S, Di Carlo A, Snyder NW, Sato PY
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Mar 3;23(5):2777

"Subsets of cancer cells expressing CX3CR1 are endowed with metastasis-initiating properties and resistance to chemotherapy"
DiNatale, A., Kaur, R., Qian, C., Zhang, J., Marchioli, M., Ipe, D., Castelli, M., McNair, C. M., Kumar, G., Meucci, O., Fatatis, A.
Oncogene, 41(9), 1337–1351. (2022)

"Co-receptor signaling in the pathogenesis of neuroHIV"
Nickoloff-Bybel EA, Festa L, Meucci O, Gaskill PJ
Retrovirology. 2021 Aug 24;18(1):24

"Circulating microRNAs from the mouse tibia fracture model reflect the signature from patients with complex regional pain syndrome"
Wickman JR, Luo X, Li W, Jean-Toussaint R, Sahbaie P, Sacan A, Clark JD, Ajit SK
Pain Rep. 2021 Aug 24;6(3):e950

"Therapeutic Strategies for Mutant SPAST-Based Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia"
Mohan, N., Qiang, L., Morfini, G., Baas, P. W.
Brain sciences, 11(8), 1081. (2021)

College of Medicine

Pharmacology & Physiology - MS / PHD