About Our Program

The Interdisciplinary Faculty of Toxicology (IFT) graduate program at Texas A&M University has a more than 30-year history of training. MS and PhD degrees have been awarded to more than 260 students, and more than 150 postdoctoral fellows have trained in toxicology in the laboratories of the program’s faculty.

Multiple Disciplines

The breadth of disciplines accessible to our trainees has always been a strength of the program. Faculty from 16 departments and seven colleges at Texas A&M University and three associated laboratories/state agencies are members.

Our goal remains to prepare trainees to function as independent researchers and/or practitioners in a multidisciplinary setting, by providing training in mechanistic research and risk assessment with a focus on scientifically sound, risk-based regulatory evaluations of the effects of drugs and other chemicals on human health and the environment.

To achieve this goal, didactic and research experiences are offered by outstanding investigators who specialize in:

• Toxicology
• Public Health
• Risk Assessment
• Exposure Science
• Cancer Biology
• Epidemiology
• Modeling/Data Science

Recruitment

Recruitment is conducted through traditional external advertisement and professional societies, as well as from a number of existing Texas A&M programs that offer research experience for undergraduates, and public health and toxicology masters-level traineeship.

Curriculum

Predoctoral trainees follow a structured core academic curriculum that includes:

• Basic and Advanced Toxicology
• Pathology
• Biochemistry
• Statistics
• Research Ethics
• Risk Assessment
• Exposure Assessment

In the second year, additional specialized training is offered through elective courses that further prepare trainees for careers in research and/or public health practice.

Distinctive features of the program include:

• A strongly encouraged hands-on summer externship through a broad and diverse network of state and federal governmental, regulatory agencies, as well as industry and non-governmental organizations; and
• A series of special programs in the form of boot camps and special workshops on a wide range of trainee-selected topics (scientific writing, presentation, interview skills, disaster research, and bioinformatics/data science).

About Our Graduates

Graduates from the program are highly successful in academia, and sought-after by employers in the industry, governmental agencies, and other professional settings.

The fields of toxicology and environmental health are acquiring new tools to better detect and characterize human health hazards. Therefore, we equip our trainees with a strong, broad background in basic science with opportunities to specialize in rigorous and innovative mechanistic research, risk assessment practice, and/or evidence-based decision-making for the protection of public health and the environment.

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Program Leadership

• Natalie Johnson, PhD | Associate Professor & Chair | Tel: 979.436.9325 | Email: nmjohnson@tamu.edu
• Ivan Rusyn, MD, PhD | Professor & Vice Chair |Tel: 979.458.9866 | Email: irusyn@tamu.edu
• Noor Kaur | Program Coordinator and Graduate Academic Advisor | Tel: 979.845.5529 | Email: noorkaur@tamu.edu

Executive Committee

• Natalie Johnson | Chair
• Ivan Rusyn | Vice Chair
• Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford, Tim Phillips, Stephen Safe and Weihsueh Chiu | Members
• Evan Farkas | Student Representative

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