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“We must acknowledge...that the most important, indeed, the only, thing we have to offer our students is ourselves. Everything else they can read in a book or discover independently.”

Daniel C. Tosteson, MD, dean for faculty of medicine from 1977-1997, Harvard Medical School
From New England Journal of Medicine 1979

Training Pioneers in Therapeutic Sciences

The Therapeutics Graduate Program focuses on pharmacology, toxicology and drug discovery, emphasizing research in both HMS labs and in real-world internships. Our goal is to provide students with the intellectual tool kit and practical skills necessary to be productive researchers in therapeutics discovery throughout the workforce.

The certificate program offers rigorous, multidisciplinary training relevant to identifying and developing novel therapeutics, understanding and investigating mechanisms of drug action, analyzing the reasons for clinical failures, and developing new compounds and applying them in preclinical and clinical studies to improve the treatment of disease.

This program will provide students with all the tools and skills necessary for these aims, including quantitative skills and modern cutting-edge techniques. This involves elucidating and understanding biological pathways and therapeutic mechanisms, understanding adverse effects to limit toxicity, identifying novel therapeutic targets, and characterizing the pharmacologic profiles (pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics) of new compounds. Students will understand the social implications and impact of these activities, and we therefore aim to link this training to industrial, clinical, and regulatory activities and to encourage students to consider their studies in a society-wide context.

Amerria Causey

Program: Virology

Hometown: Hollandale, MD, United States

PI(s): David Knipe & Smita Gopinath

I am a Mississippi native taking on the big city! My hometown has a population of less than 2,000 people. My small-town upbringing has made me eternally grateful for community. To list some things that inform the person that I am; I am Black,  I am Queer,  I am Fierce,  and I love Science.

My research lies in the intersection of the vaginal microbiome and Herpes Simplex virology. The human vaginal microbiome is commonly characterized by an abundance of bacteria from the Lactobacillus genus. Lactobacilli-dominated communities correlate with a lower risk of genital herpes acquisition and decreased instances of viral reactivation. The identification of anti-herpetic compounds produced by lactobacillus bacteria offers a potential avenue for novel antiviral therapies. Harnessing the natural capabilities of beneficial bacteria for viral control could lead to innovative treatment approaches for a whole myriad of viruses...

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