Overview
Durham, North Carolina, Is an Integral Node of the Research Triangle
The Research Triangle, commonly referred to as "the Triangle," of North Carolina, is formed by three of the nation's most prestigious research universities: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University (located in Raleigh), and Duke University (in Durham). The Triangle area is home to numerous high-tech businesses and research centers, and many of their employees are graduates of these three excellent universities. Duke University, the only private research university of the Triangle institutions, has access to resources that are often unavailable to its public counterparts. Duke University is the highest ranked university in the Research Triangle; its undergraduate program is ranked eighth in the United States.
As part of the Triangle, Durham is also an important financial and educational center for North Carolina. In addition to its excellence in the high-tech and medical sectors, Durham is an area of rich cultural and historical heritage. With its booming tobacco industry, North Carolina was of crucial importance to the early development of the United States. Today, the progressive atmosphere of Durham, North Carolina, is enhanced by numerous non-profit cultural organizations, and hosts many important cultural events, such as the American Dance Festival and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
University Is Recognized Around the World as a Top Research Institution
Duke University is nationally recognized as a top university with a long, sophisticated history. The university has never rested on its laurels, however, particularly in the area of cutting-edge research. Among all the nation's universities, Duke is in the top twenty in terms of funding for research endeavors, and its location in North Carolina's Research Triangle situates it in the heart of one of America's most productive high-tech research sectors.
Excelling in their fields of study and offering a wide variety of research programs, Duke's graduate faculty consists of more than 1,000 highly qualified individuals who take advantage of the university's state-of-the-art research facilities. Of these faculty members, thirty seven work with students in the Department of Pathology, one of Duke's notable graduate departments. This number compares favorably with the total number of students in the department ensuring an intimate research experience for all doctoral candidates. The Graduate Faculty are located in a variety of Duke Institutions; including the Duke Cancer Center, the Human Vaccine Institute and the Global Health Institute.
The research facilities available to students in the Department of Pathology are also nationally recognized, including the university's Cancer Center Isolation Facility, the Duke Vivarium, the Protemics Facility Institute, the Duke Live-Imaging Facility and Electron Microscope Facilities. These research facilities allow students to complete a research-oriented Ph.D. program in one of a number of specializations. Duke's research faculty encourages students to customize their own programs of study in order to meet personal goals and complete their best possible course of study toward a successful career as a researcher in industry or academia.
Duke's Department of Pathology Offers Cutting-Edge Graduate Programs and Unparalleled Faculty
Pathology is one of the most exciting research areas in the biological sciences today. Knowledge of the mechanisms of disease is growing rapidly, and advances in pathology continue to be some of the most important scientific advances with some of the broadest reaching implications within the scientific community. Duke University's Department of Pathology is one of several unique, top-notch graduate studies programs offered by the top-ranked research university.
Graduates of Duke University's Ph.D. program in pathology can go on to become experimental pathologists engaged in interdisciplinary research that has the potential to change the world by applying basic science to the diseases that directly affect humans. Graduate studies in the pathology department focus on inflammation, toxicology, and other molecular mechanisms of disease.
Duke's Ph.D. program in pathology gives students a broad background in the areas of physiology, immunology, vaccine design, molecular biology, microbial pathogensis, cancer biology, anatomy, and biochemistry, allowing graduates to develop careers as experimental pathologists who are prepared and equipped to solve difficult and unpredictable research problems in the field. Graduate studies in pathology extend not only to experimental pathology, but to clinical diagnostic pathology as well, allowing graduates of the Ph.D. program access to a wide range of potential careers in the medical world if they do not wish to pursue postdoctoral research within academia.
