A PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) is a professional doctorate degree and is usually a four-year program. A PharmD program differs from a PhD program in that a PhD prepares you for a career in academia and research, culminating in a dissertation.
By contrast, you pursue a PharmD with the intention of working in pharmaceuticals, usually either in clinicals (prescribing medication to patients) or industry (bringing medications to the market).
Prerequisites include foundational science courses such as physics and organic chemistry. Most pharmacy schools require you to complete a four-year bachelor's degree before applying, although Keck Graduate Institute (KGI)'s School of Pharmacy has partnered with community colleges to enable you to receive your PharmD in as little as six years from the time you graduate high school.
What Can You Do With a PharmD?
With the emergence of cutting-edge technologies like gene and stem cell therapies—along with innovations in medical devices—the field of pharmaceuticals is rapidly evolving. Diseases that were once elusive are now treatable. Personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics allow for more targeted treatment of conditions while reducing adverse side effects.
Obtaining a PharmD is your gateway to this exciting field, whether your goal is to work directly with patients or to bring promising new treatments to the public. With a PharmD, you can embark upon a variety of career paths beyond neighborhood or hospital pharmacist, including informatics, regulatory pharmacy, and research and development.
KGI's PharmD Program
When you're looking for schools, you want to choose a degree program that equips you with the skills needed to meet the demands of this changing industry. In KGI's PharmD program, faculty are industry leaders in the fields of biotechnology, genomics, and informatics who keep abreast of the latest medical developments. This ensures that the curriculum stays fresh and relevant.
Students not only learn the mechanisms of disease and drug interactions, but also the regulatory and entrepreneurial aspects of the industry. By the end of the program, they are familiar with every aspect of the drug development process.
KGI partners with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and government organizations to provide experiential education for students. Many students go on to secure jobs and fellowships, sometimes with these same companies, as a result of these rotations.
Professional development is one of the hallmarks of the PharmD program. Through team projects, students gain hands-on experience while also building the communication and interpersonal skills vital to excelling in the industry.
PharmD Curriculum
KGI's curriculum combines basic science and clinical courses into integrated sequence courses. This allows students to immediately apply their foundational science knowledge to a clinical context.
In addition to the PharmD degree, students receive a certificate in one of three areas:
- Medical Therapy Outcomes (MTO)This concentration is geared toward those who enjoy working with people—including patients, physicians, and hospital staff—and want to witness the impact of their work. It offers real-world opportunities to improve patient care and clinical skills across the continuum of care process.
- Healthcare Management/Pharmacy Informatics (HCM/PI)The HCM/PI program integrates training in management and healthcare technology, preparing you with analytical and problem-solving competencies to enhance patient experience.
- Medical and Clinical Affairs (MCA)Medical and clinical affairs professionals play a vital role in researching, developing, and bringing pharmaceuticals and medical devices to the market. They have a wide range of responsibilities spanning the drug or device lifecycle from conception to post-market monitoring. This includes ensuring that medications are compliant with FDA regulations, overseeing clinical trials, and labeling and advertising products. The MCA program equips you as a student pharmacist with the skills to lead clinical development and medical and regulatory affairs efforts, expediting the development and delivery of safe, effective pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals.
Through all of its courses, the PharmD program prepares you to enter the evolving landscape of the pharmaceutical industry and take on a number of diverse roles. You are encouraged to try out many roles to find which one fits you best.
You can learn more about the PharmD program here.