What an amazing time for students interested in a professional career in biomedical and life sciences!  Advances in these fields, driven by interdisciplinary approaches, allow us to probe and understand fundamental questions as never before, from the level of single molecules to whole organisms to populations.  These advances promise ground-breaking insights into basic life mechanisms and a corresponding leap in our ability to design effective solutions to major problems in health and the environment.

UCLA offers an outstanding setting to pursue graduate training in the biosciences.  The college, school of medicine, and hospital are located together, within short walking distances of each other on the south end of the Westwood campus.  This proximity provides a wealth of research opportunities and promotes a collaborative and collegial culture of discovery that replaces traditional academic boundaries with programs that span disciplines, departments and schools.  Our UCLA bioscience community is built on core values of openness, inclusion, and respect that foster innovation and excellence by embracing a diversity of backgrounds, experience, ideas, and approaches.

UCLA Graduate Programs in Bioscience (GPB) is a consortium of Ph.D. programs in the David Geffen School of Medicine and the College Division of Life Sciences.  GPB is dedicated to training students to thrive as leaders in the biomedical and life sciences, poised to deliver major contributions with high impact on individuals, society and the biosphere.  The consortium is designed to offer the benefits of individualized training by smaller programs together with the breadth of research and educational opportunities of an umbrella program.

GPB brings together more than 400 faculty from 29 departments across the College Life Sciences and Physical Sciences and Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Dentistry.   These mentors organized into Home Areas, each consisting of a cohesive interdepartmental group of faculty and students with shared interests and approaches in an area of research excellence at UCLA.  Each Home Area offers an in-depth, personalized program of training and advising for their students, designed to provide customized research expertise and nurture the creativity, fearlessness, resilience, and communication skills needed to flourish in a research career.  The Home Areas are coordinated by GPB, which directs common activities and facilitates inter-program interactions and exchange.  In this way, GPB provides breadth and flexibility, allowing students to move between Home Areas to best suit their research interests and training needs.

We welcome you to explore GPB and encourage you to consider joining our Home Areas for your graduate training.  We are confident that our program can provide skills, experience, and maturity that will complement your passion for science and prepare you to excel as a leader in a bioscience career.

Alex Bui*

Alex Bui, Ph.D.
Director, Graduate Programs in Bioscience
Senior Associate Dean of Bioscience Graduate Education, David Geffen School of Medicine
Associate Dean of Graduate Education, College of Life Sciences

Steven M. Dubinett, M.D.
Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Tracy Johnson, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Life Sciences