Background:
The Molecular and Cellular Pathobiology (MacPath) graduate program started in 1969 as the first interdisciplinary graduate program at Wake Forest University. At that time the program was called "Comparative and Experimental Pathology" and was jointly administered by the Departments of Pathology and Comparative Medicine.
With the advent of molecular biology and an increased emphasis on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of diseases, the program name was changed to Molecular and Cellular Pathobiology in the early 1980s to more accurately reflect the training and research focus of the program. In 1998, the Department of Comparative Medicine was merged with the Department of Pathology and administration of the program was consolidated in the Section on Comparative Medicine within the Pathology Department; it is now part of the department's Section on Lipid Sciences.
The degree is one of 15 PhD programs offered through Wake Forest University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Although the MacPath program is administered by the Department of Pathology, it remains a highly interdisciplinary graduate program with training and support faculty drawn from many other departments including: Internal Medicine, Biochemistry, Physiology and Pharmacology, Division of Surgical Sciences, Pediatrics, Public Health Sciences, and Microbiology and Immunology.
Goals & Objectives of the MacPath Program:
The principal goal of our graduate program is to train students for careers in independent research and teaching. The emphasis on research training helps our students become successful biomedical researchers who can contribute to the understanding of the basic mechanisms of complex metabolic diseases, which cause considerable mortality in the US. To accomplish our goal, we offer formal course work in the basic medical sciences and research training in Pathobiology, the study of fundamental mechanisms of disease processes. We have several specific training objectives which include:
- giving students a strong didactic foundation in biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, pathology, physiology, and statistics;
- developing students into critical and independent thinkers; and
- enhancing written and oral communication skills.
These objectives are met through interdisciplinary course work, participation in seminars, journal clubs, and lab meetings, presentations at regional and national meetings, and the writing of research proposals and manuscripts. Most of our PhD students graduate with at least two or three peer-reviewed, first-author manuscripts as well as several presentations at national meetings. Please refer to the student awards, honors, and presentations section of the web site for more information.
Faculty:
The multidisciplinary graduate program faculty includes individuals with a huge range of interests and variety of research expertise. Most of the faculty are affiliated with the Pathology Department, but other departments at represented as well. Click here for more information about the graduate program faculty.
Integrative Lipid Sciences, Inflammation, and Chronic Diseases Training Program
An Overview:
The Integrative Lipid Sciences, Inflammation, and Chronic Diseases Training Program (hereafter referred to as "Training Program") is designed to provide research training for pre-doctoral students in the broad and expanding discipline of lipid sciences, with a particular emphasis on the relationships among lipid metabolism, inflammation, and chronic diseases. The Training Program has 12 mentors who have primary academic appointments in five departments and will draw trainees from four different graduate programs of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Wake Forest University. The Training Program is administered by a director (Dr. John Parks) and an associate director (Dr. Gregory Shelness).
This Training Program has evolved from the natural ongoing collaborations and common research interests in lipid sciences of a number of established investigators who have been assembled onto one floor of a new state-of-the-art research building (3rd floor of Biotechnology Research Facility 1 with 33,000 square feet of space) on the downtown campus of the Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS). The new downtown campus is located 1.5 miles from the central medical school campus and is part of the Piedmont Triad Research Park. The combination of facilities, faculty, and other resources provides a rich and vibrant interdisciplinary training environment for graduate students interested in focusing their research in the area of lipid sciences and chronic disease research.
In addition, several program faculty members, including Drs. Chilton, Rudel, and Parks, are part of the new Center for Botanical Lipids at WFUHS, one of five dietary supplement research centers focusing on studies of botanical products that have been jointly funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), both components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). [Link]
More About the Training Program: