Chemical biology and medicinal chemistry is a dynamic, multifaceted graduate program of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. CBMC is dedicated to improving human health through research leading to new concepts for the design and development of therapeutic and diagnostic agents.

The CBMC graduate program seamlessly blends chemistry and biology, which distinguishes it from traditional graduate programs. We develop and exploit novel chemical tools relevant to the fields of biochemistry, biology, pharmacology, and medicine. Research in CBMC is directed toward biomedical and pharmaceutical discovery by applying both chemical and biological principles to interactions between molecular structure and biological activity.

Our program’s degree recipients are well prepared for scientific careers in academia, industry, government, and research institutes. All of our graduates have been successful in finding desirable positions. An important measure of the success of our program is whether students are obtaining their first-choice postdoctoral positions. To a large extent, our recent graduates are receiving multiple offers from top labs. Our recent graduates have taken postdoctoral positions in prestigious labs at Harvard, Duke, Scripps, and MIT, just to name a few.

Historically, the majority of our graduates have taken positions in the pharmaceutical industry. In recent years, as the pharmaceutical industry has changed and biotech and biopharma companies have emerged, there has been a growing demand for our graduates in the latter. In addition, our graduates are increasingly considering careers in academia.