The objective of the joint program is to train students for careers in academic pharmacy and bench science research. Students admitted to this joint program participate in the PharmD curriculum and pursue original doctoral research projects in the laboratories of the university’s graduate faculty in either the Department of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy OR Biopharmaceutical Sciences. The joint program offers the potential of reducing the time of earning both degrees in sequence (9 or more years) by approximately two years by counting some requirements toward the completion of both degrees. The trade-off is that both degrees are awarded at the end of the training period and neither degree can be received before the other is completed. The PharmD/PhD program is for exceptional, highly motivated and achieving students ready to meet the challenge of increased academic load and independent research project.