The USC School of Pharmacy’s department of pharmaceutical economics and policy has won entry to the Merck Co. Foundation Quantitative Sciences Fellowship Program, supporting graduate students who study quantitative methods in biopharmaceutical research.

Thirty-one schools vied for the five spots that were awarded, with USC being the only pharmacy school to win the award. Other winners include the Harvard School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Awards were based on the entrant’s quality of faculty research and publications, quality of current graduate student work, caliber of alumni from the department and their current work in the field, and interdisciplinary aspects included in the graduate training program.

Interdisciplinary pursuits are a hallmark of the department of pharmaceutical economics and policy, the first department established in the nation to exclusively focus on pharmacoeconomics.

The department’s graduate curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary training, relying on the department’s faculty as well as instructional expertise of faculty from the departments of economics and preventive medicine (Keck School) and by the School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

The fellowship provides $150,000 over three years, with the department granting the monies to graduate students as research assistant awards. And in the final year of the fellowship, the foundation invites students and their advisers from all five participating schools to a symposium to highlight their achievements over the life of the fellowship.

Jeffrey S. McCombs, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the department of pharmaceutical economics and policy, submitted the grant on behalf of the department.