Programs in cancer biology focus on the causes and treatments of cancer. Students learn about cell growth, genetics, and the immune system. They study how the disease begins and behaves.

There may not be a medical diagnosis people fear more than cancer. Cancer can take many forms, affecting the skin, organs, blood, and bones. Some cancers spread rapidly while others take a long time. In addition, some kinds of cancer respond to chemotherapy while others respond better to radiation, and still others require surgery. The good news is that each year more drug and treatment advances are made, and more people are able to survive the disease. This is in large part due to scientists who study cancer exclusively.

Cancer biology programs train people to become professional researchers and professors at the graduate level. As a cancer biologist, you can work for private laboratories, drug companies, or hospitals. You can also work for graduate and medical schools. In addition, you can work for a government agency, such as the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. No matter where you work, most of your time will be spent studying cancer and how to prevent and treat it.

In cancer biology programs, you take many science courses. You take genetics, anatomy, and physiology. You also take many biology courses that analyze tumors at the cell and molecular level. You learn how tumors begin, grow, and spread. You also study how radiation treatments affect cancer and how the rest of the body functions. In addition, you study statistics and how to perform scientific research. Some programs also allow you to specialize in different types of cancers. For example, you could decide to study melanoma, breast cancer, or leukemia, to name a few.

Typically you become a cancer biologist by going to graduate school after finishing your bachelor's degree. Over 20 schools offer cancer and oncology biology programs. Most often they are doctoral programs. This means you get your Ph.D. However, some programs also offer master's degrees. Usually it takes two years to get your master's degree and five years to get your Ph.D.