Masters degree for toxicology career?

[J. A. Fee]

I am an undergraduate student currently in my last year of study. I am interested in pursuing a career in toxicology when I graduate with a particular interest in doing work relating to the environmental/ecological side of it.

I've been going on the assumption that getting a masters degree would be the best course of action though I'm not sure which course would be most relevant. My undergraduate degree will be in Pharmacology. Should I be looking for a masters in ecology to get educated on that area while assuming that pharmacology is relevant enough, or would a toxicology course be more appropriate?

Also I plan on trying to get a job for a for a year or two beforehand to earn enough to pay for the course fees and living costs of the masters. Is there any particular jobs I should be looking for to get the most relevant experience I can to start me on this career path?

If there are any toxicologists or similar out there your advice would be greatly appreciated.

[D.X.]

Hi,

My recommendation is to first pursue an experience in enviromental toxiology before deciding to invest in additional education.

I recommend you look to government Jobs at both national and local Levels, if in the US, locally look to your local water works department as well as local and state Level Departments of Environmental Conservation. At national Level look at the US Fish and Wildlife and US Dept of Agriculture,, i'm not sure about the EPA. Also check local departments of health. Check out NOAA too.

On the industry side, perhaps make some bridges to Agriculture Indusrty (Dave can comment here) and Oil industry as well.

Do alot of Networking - you can even leverage Jobs/opps at Schools that do Research in that area and have specific programs as well.

A key question is what do you want to do exactly? but that's for you to figure out.

DX

[J. A. Fee]

Much obliged D.X. I'm actually not in the US but Scotland. Nevertheless your advice will still be very useful.

Other comments are still welcome.