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

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.

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.

Welcome to Our First-Year Students

Left to right: Thalia Dimopoulos (PhD), Isaac Turkson (PhD), Elizabeth Homer (PhD), Nitika Gupta (PhD), Ole Mortensen, PhD (program director), Melina Kazemi (MS), Adrika Mondal (MS) and Aarohee Bhattarai (PhD)

Summer 2022 Potluck

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

Experimental Biology Conference 2022 Photo Gallery

Student Achievements

Congratulations to Rhea Temmermand

Rhea (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) won the Best Poster Award at the International Congress on Neuropathic Pain (NeuPSIG2023) in Lisbon, Portugal on September 5-9, 2023.

Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference Award

Katelyn Reeb won the Dean’s Award for Best Research Poster Presentation at the 2023 Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference. Katelyn’s award-winning poster was titled “Positive allosteric modulation of glutamate transporter EAAT2 as a novel therapeutic approach for neurological disorders.”

Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Jason Wickman (mentored by Seena Ajit), winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.

Congratulations Katelyn Reeb

Katelyn Reeb won second prize for her poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Philadelphia chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (PCSFN).

Congratulations Deepa Reddy

Deepa Reddy won honorable mention in the category of Brain and Behavior for her poster presentation at the AAAS 2023 Student E-poster Competition.

PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery

Congratulations to Katelyn Reeb (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) for being awarded the PhRMA Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship (phrmafoundation.org/awards/past-award-recipients/2023-award-recipients) on her project entitled "Positive Allosteric Modulation of EAAT2 for the Treatment of Neurological Disorders."

Dean’s Travel Award

Congratulations to Katelyn Reeb (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) and Neha Mohan (mentored by Liang Oscar Qiang), winners of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.

Discovery Day Awards

Congratulations to the program's Discovery Day 2022 winners:

• Jonathan Snyder (Sato lab), First Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
• Jason Wickman (Ajit Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster
• Breana Channer (Gaskill Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Junior Graduate Student Poster

Read more student achievements.

Recent Student Publications