Physiology, the study of tissue or organ function, has become a highly complex and integrated field, drawing from many sub-disciplines of discovery science. Thus, the MCIP Ph.D. program was borne as an interdepartmental program (IDP), which spans many University departments and scientific disciplines. We are defined by the research scope of the member faculty rather than by their member department. The IDP is designed so that the educational and research program that it provides can be highly responsive to the rapidly changing and highly integrative scientific knowledge and technological scope of modern physiology research. The IDP also optimizes the opportunities for synergy between molecular, cellular, and systemic physiologists by creating a coherent program in which all participants can contribute to achieving a more comprehensive knowledge of organismic function, rather than drawing artificial boundaries between disciplines. A dynamic group of over one hundred professors from the School of Medicine and the College of Letters and Science participate in our degree program!