The goal of the UCLA Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program for Neuroscience is to educate students for careers in neuroscience research and teaching. Neuroscience research at UCLA covers broad areas in the field, including molecular, cellular, systems, developmental, behavioral/cognitive, neuroengineering, and clinical investigations. Neuroscience is  inherently interdisciplinary because the most creative research uses the analytical tools of several disciplines to converge on solutions to specific questions about neural function. Our program emphasizes unique combinations of ideas and techniques, including the application of novel developments in basic science to elucidate clinical problems, new imaging technology to understand molecular, cellular, and behavioral phenomena, molecular techniques to solve problems in cellular and systems neuroscience, and the interface between neuroscience and engineering. 
The Program draws on the research and teaching expertise of over 150 individuals, encompassing UCLA's broadly based faculty, one of the finest neuroscience communities in the world. Faculty laboratories are conveniently located within a short distance of each other in the Brain Research Institute, the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, the Neuropsychiatric Institute, the Division of Life Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, and the School of Engineering. More neuroscience research is performed at UCLA than on almost any other single campus in the world and students benefit greatly from this exceptional milieu. The Program is designed 
to foster close student-faculty relationships and maintains a strong sense of community. Students are viewed as junior colleagues and are responsible for major roles in decisions that impact their education. The Program prides itself 
on providing a flexible curriculum that strives to meet the needs of individual students.
Now is an opportune time for graduate study in the UCLA Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program for Neuroscience. The David Geffen School of Medicine has established neuro- science as a major priority and many new neuroscience faculty are being recruited to the departments involved in the Program. The large number of well-established and well-funded research and teaching programs have recently been joined by programs in neuroengineering, neural repair, and the study of neurodegenerative diseases. Such growth increases the quality and range of training available to students and provides them with the foundation needed for success in neuroscience research and teaching in the 21st century.