Newswise — Nova Southeastern University (NSU) College of Pharmacy recently launched South Florida’s first Ph.D. program in pharmacy.
The program aims to produce graduates that will help make new drug discoveries and develop different ways of delivering drugs to patients to improve the lives of millions and further scientific knowledge about pharmaceutical products and medications.
Lasting between 4 and 5 ½ years, the program was launched with four students. Led by Hugh M. McLean, Pharm.D., Ph.D., the College of Pharmacy’s associate dean for research & graduate education, the program focuses on graduate study and research in drug development, determinants of drug use, and drug discovery.
The drug development sequence emphasizes coursework, laboratory, and literature skills and research that will help prepare graduates for careers in making new drug dosage forms, which is the use of different ways to deliver drugs to a person. As an example, dosage forms include pills, capsules, syrups, aerosols, patches, etc.
The determinants of drug use sequence focuses on coursework and research skills to address how pharmaceuticals are used and distributed, as well as how pharmacy services can be improved. The drug discovery sequence emphasizes coursework, laboratory and literature skills and research that are critical to explaining the actions and characteristics of drugs.
“The launch of this graduate program is timely and unequivocally significant,” McLean said. “It is anticipated that it will make a significant impact on the shortage of Ph.D. pharmacy graduates in both academia and industry.”
About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 300 beautiful acres in Davie, Florida, Nova Southeastern University is a dynamic fully accredited institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs of distinction from preschool through the professional and doctoral levels. NSU has more than 29,000 students and is the seventh largest not-for-profit independent institution nationally. The university awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral, and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields, including business, counseling, computer and information sciences, education, medicine, optometry, pharmacy, dentistry, various health professions, law, marine sciences, early childhood, psychology and other social sciences. For more information visit www.nova.edu.
RSS