Hope Memorial Building 212, 203.785.5932
http://medicine.yale.edu/inp
M.S., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Director of Graduate Studies
Marina Picciotto (Psychiatry; Pharmacology; Neuroscience)
marina.picciotto@yale.edu

Professors Amy Arnsten (Neuroscience; Psychology), Anton Bennett (Pharmacology; Comparative Medicine), Hilary Blumberg (Psychiatry; Child Study Center; Radiology and Biomedical Imaging), Hal Blumenfeld (Neurology; Neuroscience; Neurosurgery), Angélique Bordey (Neurosurgery; Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Kristen Brennand (Psychiatry; Genetics), Tyrone Cannon (Psychology; Psychiatry), Jessica Cardin (Neuroscience), John Carlson (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Sreeganga Chandra (Neurology; Neuroscience), Marvin Chun (Psychology; Neuroscience), Lawrence Cohen (Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Daniel Colón-Ramos (Cell Biology; Neuroscience), R. Todd Constable (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Neurosurgery), Kelly Cosgrove (Psychiatry; Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Neuroscience), Michael Crair (Neuroscience; Ophthalmology and Visual Science), Pietro De Camilli (Cell Biology; Neuroscience), Jonathan Demb (Ophthalmology and Visual Science; Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Ralph DiLeone (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), Barbara Ehrlich (Pharmacology; Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Thierry Emonet (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Physics), Paul Forscher (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Elena Gracheva (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Neuroscience), Charles Greer (Neurosurgery; Neuroscience), Jeffrey Gruen (Pediatrics; Genetics), Jaime Grutzendler (Neurology; Neuroscience), Murat Gunel (Neurosurgery; Genetics; Neuroscience), David Hafler (Neurology; Immunobiology), Joy Hirsch (Psychiatry; Comparative Medicine; Neuroscience), Tamas Horvath (Comparative Medicine; Neuroscience; Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences), Arthur Horwich (Genetics; Pediatrics), Jonathon Howard (Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Physics), Fahmeed Hyder (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Biomedical Engineering), Yong-Hui Jiang (Genetics), Elizabeth Jonas (Internal Medicine; Neuroscience), Leonard Kaczmarek (Pharmacology; Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Haig Keshishian (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Jeffery Kocsis (Neurology; Neuroscience), Michael Koelle (Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry), Anthony Koleske (Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Neuroscience), John Krystal (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), Robert LaMotte (Anesthesiology; Neuroscience), Chiang-shan Ray Li (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), Angeliki Louvi (Neurosurgery; Neuroscience), Gregory McCarthy (Psychology), James McPartland (Child Study Center; Psychology), Mark Mooseker (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Cell Biology), Evan Morris (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Biomedical Engineering; Psychiatry), Angus Nairn (Psychiatry; Pharmacology), Michael Nitabach (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Genetics), Vincent Pieribone (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Neuroscience), Christopher Pittenger (Psychiatry; Child Study Center), Marc Potenza (Psychiatry; Child Study Center; Neuroscience), Pasko Rakic (Neuroscience; Neurology), Carla Rothlin (Immunobiology; Pharmacology), Gary Rudnick (Pharmacology), W. Mark Saltzman (Biomedical Engineering; Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Chemical and Environmental Engineering), Laurie Santos (Psychology), Joseph Santos-Sacchi (Surgery; Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Neuroscience), Nenad Sestan (Neuroscience; Comparative Medicine; Genetics; Psychiatry), Fred Sigworth (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Biomedical Engineering), Dana Small (Psychiatry; Psychology), Stephen Strittmatter (Neurology; Neuroscience), Jane Taylor (Psychiatry; Psychology), Susumu Tomita (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Neuroscience), Nicholas Turk-Browne (Psychology), Flora Vaccarino (Child Study Center; Neuroscience), Christopher van Dyck (Psychiatry; Neuroscience; Neurology), Stephen Waxman (Neurology; Pharmacology; Neuroscience), David Zenisek (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Ophthalmology and Visual Science), Z. Jimmy Zhou (Ophthalmology and Visual Science; Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Neuroscience), Steven Zucker (Computer Science; Biomedical Engineering)

Associate Professors Nii Addy (Psychiatry; Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Meenakshi Alreja (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), Alan Anticevic (Psychiatry; Psychology), Sviatoslav Bagriantsev (Cellular and Molecular Physiology), Abhishek Bhattacharjee (Computer Science), Thomas Biederer (Neurology; Neuroscience), William Cafferty (Neurology; Neuroscience), Rui Chang (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Neuroscience), Steve Chang (Psychology; Neuroscience), Damon Clark (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Physics), Philip Corlett (Psychiatry; Psychology), Marcelo de Oliveira Dietrich (Comparative Medicine; Neuroscience), George Dragoi (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), Tore Eid (Laboratory Medicine; Neurosurgery), Irina Esterlis (Psychiatry; Psychology), Sourav Ghosh (Neurology; Pharmacology), Pallavi Gopal (Pathology), Junjie Guo (Neuroscience), Marc Hammarlund (Genetics; Neuroscience), Michelle Hampson (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Psychiatry; Child Study Center), Michael Higley (Neuroscience), Avram Holmes (Psychology), Erdem Karatekin (Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry), In-Jung Kim (Ophthalmology and Visual Science; Neuroscience), Hedy Kober (Psychiatry; Psychology), Smita Krishnaswamy (Genetics; Computer Science), Ifat Levy (Comparative Medicine; Psychology; Neuroscience), Janghoo Lim (Genetics; Neuroscience), John Murray (Psychiatry; Neuroscience; Physics), Dhasakumar Navaratnam (Neurology; Neuroscience), Timothy Newhouse (Chemistry), In-Hyun Park (Genetics), Maria Piñango (Linguistics), Helena Rutherford (Child Study Center; Psychology), Dustin Scheinost (Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Child Study Center; Statistics and Data Science), Justus Verhagen (Neuroscience), Shaul Yogev (Neuroscience), Weimin Zhong (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Jiangbing Zhou (Neurosurgery; Biomedical Engineering)

Assistant Professors Moitrayee Bhattacharyya (Pharmacology), Joel Butterwick (Pharmacology), Alicia Che (Psychiatry), Youngsun Cho (Psychiatry; Child Study Center), Eyiyemisi Damisah (Neurosurgery; Neuroscience), Carolyn Fredericks (Neurology), Dylan Gee (Psychology), Jason Gerrard (Neurosurgery; Neuroscience), Matthew Girgenti (Psychiatry), Elizabeth Goldfarb (Psychiatry; Psychology), Abha Gupta (Pediatrics; Neuroscience), Brian Hafler (Ophthalmology and Visual Science; Pathology), Ellen Hoffman (Child Study Center; Neuroscience), Monika Jadi (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), James Jeanne (Neuroscience), Al Kaye (Psychiatry), Liang Liang (Neuroscience), Samuel McDougle (Psychology), Anirvan Nandy (Neuroscience), Michael O’Donnell (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Candie Paulsen (Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry), Albert Powers (Psychiatry; Psychology), Hyojung Seo (Psychiatry; Neuroscience), David van Dijk (Internal Medicine; Computer Science), Ilker Yildirim (Psychology)

Fields of Study

The Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (INP) offers flexible but structured interdisciplinary training for independent research and teaching in neuroscience. The goal of the program is to ensure that degree candidates obtain a solid understanding of cellular and molecular neurobiology, physiology and biophysics, neural development, systems and behavior, and neural computation. In addition to coursework, graduate students participate in student research talks, as well as mentoring and outreach activities.

To enter the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Ph.D. program, students apply to the Neuroscience track within the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS), https://medicine.yale.edu/bbs.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Each entering student is assigned a pre-thesis faculty adviser who is responsible for establishing the student’s initial course of study and for monitoring the student’s progress. This adviser will subsequently be modified to a faculty committee with expertise in the student’s emerging area of interest.

Although each student’s precise course requirements are set individually to take account of background and educational goals, the course of study is based on a model curriculum beginning with four core required courses: Bioethics in Neuroscience (INP 5580), Principles of Neuroscience (INP 5701), Foundations of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology (INP 5702), and Foundations of Systems Neuroscience (INP 5703), all completed in the first year of enrollment.

During the second or third year of enrollment, students are required to take one course on quantitative techniques (including, but not limited to, INP 7560, PSYC 2100, PSYC 5580, INP 7562, INP 7575, INP 7599, PSYC 2610) as well as one elective course selected from a broad set of neuroscience-related courses. Collectively, these courses are designed to ensure broad competence in modern neuroscience. 

Additional degree requirements are successful completion of both terms of Lab Rotations for First-Year Students (INP 6511, INP 6512), which includes rotating in at least three labs; both terms of Second-Year Thesis Research (INP 6513, INP 6514); and RCR Bioethics Refresher course (INP 5503) completed during the fourth year of enrollment.

The graduate school uses grades of Honors, High Pass, Pass, and Fail and requires two course grades of Honors during the first two years of study. Students are expected to maintain at least a High Pass average.

In accordance with the expectations of the BBS program, Ph.D. students are also expected to participate in two terms (or the equivalent) of teaching.

Admission to candidacy requires passing a qualifying examination, normally given during the second year, and submission of a dissertation prospectus (NIH NRSA grant format) before the end of the third year. After admission to candidacy, thesis committee meetings are required at six-month intervals.

Also required for graduation are the completion and satisfactory defense of the thesis.

Requirements for M.D.-Ph.D. students are the same as for Ph.D. students with the following differences: one term as a Teaching Fellow; two laboratory rotations while in the medical school prior to degree-program track affiliation; and three courses (Principles of Neuroscience, INP 5701; Structural and Functional Organization of the Human Nervous System, INP 9510; one elective graduate-level course). 

Master’s Degrees

M.Phil. See Degree Requirements under Policies and Regulations.

M.S. Awarded only to students who are not continuing for the Ph.D. degree, but have successfully completed all of the requirements other than the thesis prospectus and defense. This includes a passing grade in the required and elective courses, a minimum of two Honors grades, passing a qualifying examination, and successful completion of both terms of Lab Rotation for First-Year Students (INP 6511, INP 6512) and both terms of Second-Year Thesis Research (INP 6513, INP 6514). Students are not admitted for this degree. Students who are eligible for or who have already received the M.Phil. will not be awarded the M.S.

Program information is available at http://medicine.yale.edu/inp.

Courses