Neuroscience (B.S.)

Marymount University is excited to offer neuroscience as a new degree option. As an undergraduate course of study, neuroscience provides students with an incredibly broad range of career options. It is, first and foremost, an ideal course of study for students who wish to pursue graduate studies in neuroscience itself, as well as those who wish to enter Medical School – especially with an eye towards psychiatric care. Similarly, it provides a firm grounding for students who wish to move into counseling, therapy, addiction work or social work, therefore serving as a good option for students who want to pursue some amount of graduate work, but for one reason or another find Medical School or PhD programs a poor fit.

But even without further study, students with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience are well suited to take on roles as laboratory technicians, law enforcement professionals, health educators, and technical writers: all jobs that offer a salary well above the national median and are experiencing job growth anywhere between 160% and 210% of the national average according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook.

This breadth of options makes neuroscience an ideal course of study for students who know they want to pursue the sciences, but have yet to fully understand where their talents might lead them.

The Neuroscience program has a foundation on our campus with supplemental courses being offered by a top notch group of leaders in the Neuroscience field, Our Neuroscience curriculum was built with the support of four key members of the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative, whose names and backgrounds are listed below in the contributors section. The NNCI is a collaboration between educators and neuroscientists that seeks to make core concepts in neuroscience available to a broader audience. To accomplish this, they have developed engaging and interactive exercises for teaching in the classroom through a peer-review process. Their overarching aim is to create, pilot, and disseminate a comprehensive set of shared resources in the field of neuroscience.

Thanks to the help of our academic contributors, we have been able to layer a significant amount of NNCI content into a more traditional undergraduate neuroscience curriculum, providing students with a much deeper understanding of the brain. This is especially true of the fourth neuroscience course, Clinical Neuropathology, which is based heavily on the NNCI Quarantine Curriculum, adapted to an undergraduate audience.

As is typical for neuroscience, this program places a strong emphasis on biology and psychology coursework in addition to focused neuroscience courses. This program covers some – but not all – premedical requirements. Students who wish to go to medical school must also take one year of physics, one year of organic chemistry, and select Biochemistry I as one of their electives, for a total of 20 additional credit hours.

Subject Matter Experts

Dr. David Ross is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and Associate Program Director of the Yale Adult Psychiatry Residency. He is a Co- Founder and Co-Chair of the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative. Dr. Ross holds an MD and Ph.D, from Yale and has won numerous awards within the fields of neuroscience and psychiatry.

Dr. Adriane dela Cruz is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern. She completed her undergraduate training at Amherst College, where she earned her B.A. in neuroscience magna cum laude. She completed her M.D. and Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Texas. Her interests include research and practice in addiction psychiatry and psychiatric education at the medical student, resident, and fellow level with a focus on neuroscience and evidence-based medicine.

Dr. Ashley Walker is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Residency Training Director at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa. She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology and mathematics at Rice University, medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern and psychiatry residency at the OU School of Community Medicine. Her interests include psychiatric education, physician well-being, treatment of severe mental illness, and eliminating racism and mental health stigma.

Dr. Joseph J Cooper serves as Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Director of Undergraduate Medical Education in Psychiatry, and Co-Director of the Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, medical school at the University of Chicago, and fellowship in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry at Northwestern University. His interests include education in neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, and neuromodulation.

Program Requirements

Natural Science & Mathematics Requirements

BIO 151 General Biology I
BIO 151L General Biology I Lab
BIO 152 General Biology II
BIO 152L General Biology II Lab
BIO 262 Genetics
BIO 262L Genetics Lab
CHM 151 General Chemistry I
CHM 151L General Chemistry I Lab
CHM 152 General Chemistry II
CHM 152L General Chemistry II Lab
MA 181 Calculus I

Psychology Requirements

PSY 101 General Psychology
PSY 105 General Psychology Lab
PSY 201 Statistics for the Social Sciences
PSY 230 Psychological Disorders
PSY 302 Research Design for Psychology

Neuroscience Core

NEU  300- Neuroscience Foundations
NEU 310 – Biological Basis of Perception and Movement
NEU 410 – Cognitive Neuroscience
NEU 420 – Clinical Neuropathology

Internship

BIO 400 Biology Internship
or PSY 400 Psychology Internship