Gain a competitive edge, advance your career

The Master of Pharmaceutical Bioengineering program (PharBE) is a part-time online degree program designed to enable working engineers, scientists, researchers and professionals in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and related industries to explore advanced education. This interactive program covers drug discovery and design, pharmaceutics and translational pharmaceutics, clinical drug and device development, molecular and cellular biology, pathophysiology and pharmacology.  Using live (synchronous), and pre-recorded (asynchronous) lectures, the program provides a path to acquire new skills, gain an edge in your current job, and receive training to transition to a new career in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry.

Sherman Yu

If I hadn’t taken the PharBE program I would never have known about other areas of research and development.

– Sherman Yu, PharBE ’24

Brianne Broughton

All of the professors that were listed online were highly knowledgeable and great mentors that I wanted to learn from. Mark Minie and Robbie Wong are absolutely brilliant.

Brianne Broughton, PharBE ‘15

PharBE student Blake Englebert and daughter hiking

I made the jump to a scientist role thanks in part to my master’s from the PharBE program.

Blake Engelbert, PharBE ‘19

Xochitl Vasquez, UW PharBE alumna

In the program you get to listen to many guest speakers talk about their experience, and you have a better understanding of what types of roles there are in the pharmaceutical industry.

Xochitl Vasquez, PharBE ‘21

LEARN FROM EXPERTS IN THE FIELD

Robbie Wong

Robbie Wong

Edward Kelly

Edward Kelly

UW Bioengineering faculty Patrick Stayton

Patrick Stayton

The PharBE program gives students direct access to faculty who have first-hand experiences with the drug development process, both in academia and industry. Roberta Wong, Bioengineering associate professor, is a Seattle-based pharmaceutical consultant who was senior project manager at Amgen, director of corporate planning at Abraxis Bioscience, and director of research at Agensys. She co-directs the program with two other UW professors. Edward Kelly, is UW associate professor of pharmaceutics, whose research is focused on using “organs on chips” or microphysiological systems (MPS) to model human diseases. Kelly managed the Preclinical Bioanalytics group at Targeted Genetics Corporation before joining UW’s faculty. Patrick Stayton is Distinguished Career Professor of Bioengineering and director of the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, who has developed therapies and co-founded two companies to move those technologies into market.

The program also features upper-level industry experts from diverse backgrounds, with hands-on knowledge and experience taking drug candidates from concept to commercial market. As guest instructors they offer students a breadth of exposure across the industry.

The students also learn from each other. The program draws a broad mix of students, from those right out of undergraduate programs to bench scientists, lawyers, medical professionals and those with MBAs. Their diverse experiences create a rich learning environment. Students are encouraged to share insights from their daily work, including the manufacturing process, challenges in animal studies or experiments with drug candidates.

Apply to UW Bioengineering’s Master of Pharmaceutical Bioengineering (PharBE) program

The PharBE program has flexible options for candidates to apply to and enter the program, including priority and space-available admission.

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