PhD (Pharmacy) - Centre for Drug Research

The Centre for Drug Research offers graduate programmes encompassing several thrust areas pertaining to drug research at the Master of Science, Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy levels. These thrust areas are Clinical/ Experimental Pharmacology; Chemical / Pharmaceutical Analysis; Drug Abuse and Addiction; Public Health; Molecular Pharmacology and Drug Discovery & Development. This programme is open to all students of USM and other local and international universities, who are qualified to pursue their graduate studies through research mode either on a full- time or a part-time basis.

Research Thrust Areas:

Clinical / Experimental Pharmacology

• Tropical Disease and Anti-infective
• Metabolism
• Drug Evaluation
• Bioequivalence
• Pharmacokinetics
• Protein Binding
• Brain Study
• Clinical Trials
• Drug Interaction
• Neurobehavioral
• Neurophysiology
• Blood Brain Barrier

Chemical / Pharmaceutical Analysis

• Extraction Technology
• Analytical Method Development for Drugs in Body Fluids
• Analytical Method Development for Illicit Drugs
• Analytical Method Development for Pharmaceutical Compounds
• Instrumentation Methods
• Chemical and Physical Methods

Molecular Pharmacology

• Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology
• Medical Enzymology
• Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics

Drug Abuse and Addiction (Including tobacco and alcohol)

• Epidemiology
• Prevention
• Treatment and Rehabilitation
• Programme Evaluation
• Social, Economic and Health Impact
• Drug Policy Studies

Public Health

• Social and Behavioural Aspects of Diseases
• Health Education and Promotion
• Evaluation of Health Interventions

Drug Discovery and Development

• Computer-aided Drug Design
• Synthesis, Isolation, Characterization and Structural Elucidation
• Lead Compound Optimization
• In vitro and in vivo screening
• Toxicology

Expertise available in the following Centre: Centre For Drug Research

Applicants should possess one of the following:

• A Master’s degree in related area with CGPA 3.00/4; or
• A Master’s degree in related area with CGPA 2.50-2.99/4 with additional requirements; or
• Bachelor’s degree in related area with minimum CGPA 3.67/4 (fast-track to PhD)

(Applicable for International Applicants Only)

The minimum score for each programme can be vary from the below list, candidates are required to check for each programme requirements.

• A minimum of Band 5 for IELTS; or
• A minimum score of 40 for TOEFL (Internet-based); or
• A minimum of Band 7.5 for TOEFL Essentials (Online); or
• A minimum score of 154 for Cambridge English: Advance (CAE)/Proficiency (CPE) /Preliminary (PET) /First (FCE)/ Linguaskill Online min. score 154; or
• A minimum score of 47 for Pearson Test of English (PTE); or
• A minimum of Band 107 for CIEP Level (ELS); or
• A minimum of Band 3.5 for Malaysian University English Test (MUET)

Exemption is given to candidate if:

• English is the candidate’s mother tongue or National Language; or
• Candidate graduated from an Institution of Higher Learning in which the medium of instruction at Bachelor and/or Master degree level is English (statement of proof required)

• Full-time: Min 4 semesters / Max 10 semesters
• Part-time: Min 6 semesters / Max 15 semesters

** Fees are subject to change