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The UCSF School of Pharmacy's three academic departments move forward on different but related paths. All three departments are responsible for the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum. The department of clinical pharmacy is responsible for the advanced education of PharmD graduates through its postdoctoral residency training program. The two basic science departments -- the departments of pharmaceutical chemistry and the department of biopharmaceutical sciences -- prepare PhD graduate students and postdoctoral students as leaders in science. All three departments conduct research and serve the public in various ways. The departments are all international leaders in their own areas of specialization.
The department of pharmaceutical chemistry explores molecules and uses its expertise to answer biological questions.
While these questions could be disease related -- ranging from asthma to AIDS -- they often relate to very fundamental questions about biology. The department uses chemistry and highly sophisticated physical techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, computational drug design, and robotic synthetic chemistry, in its work.
The department of biopharmaceutical sciences sets the stage for the discovery and design of new drugs to challenge disease.
Faculty members explore a breadth of studies in the pharmaceutical sciences, while emphasizing work in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug delivery, drug metabolism and transport, pharmacogenomics, bioinformatics, and systems biology.
The department of clinical pharmacy promotes the rational use of drugs that are safe and effective.
Service and research activities are broad. The department faculty can be found providing direct pharmaceutical care to patients; studying effective ways to control the overuse or misuse of drugs; exploring the effectiveness of electronic prescribing or dispensing devices; evaluating the clinical, social, and clinical outcomes of drug therapy; analyzing the physiological disposition of drugs; and advising legislators on the cost of drug benefits for the elderly.
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