The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences subsumes three specialty areas: pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, and natural products/pharmacognosy.

Pharmaceutics is that area of pharmacy associated with the following: designing various dosage forms for delivery of drugs; determining drug storage and stability; and evaluating the effects of administration and formulation factors on the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs in humans.

Medicinal chemistry is a science that is unique to pharmacy because it is a hybridization of the physical, chemical, biochemical, analytical, and pharmacologic principles employed in explaining the mechanisms of drug action and drug design. The application of principles associated with medicinal chemistry provides the professional undergraduate student with a firm basis for his/her career in pharmacy.

Pharmacognosy is that pharmaceutical science concerned with the biological, chemical, and therapeutic uses of drugs obtained from plants, microbes, and animals.

Department of Pharmacy Practice
Chair: Shane Scott, Pharm.D., RPh, BCPS, BCOP, Professor

The Department of Pharmacy Practice is composed of faculty who provide education in the administrative and clinical sciences, as well as direct practice experience. Required courses in the administrative science area include an early experiential course sequence, a survey of the health care system, professional practice management, quality assurance of pharmacy practice, and pharmacy law and ethics. Required courses in the clinical science area include nonprescription medications, drug literature evaluation, clinical pathophysiology, pharmacotherapeutics, clinical pharmacokinetics, and a professional practice laboratory that emphasizes communication skills, prescription processing, and pharmaceutical care. Supervised practice experiences required during the program provide opportunities for students to apply knowledge acquired in didactic courses to life situations. The experiences are designed to promote the development of technical, cognitive, and decision-making skills that are necessary for the contemporary practice of pharmacy in a variety of practice environments. Various states apply these experiences to their state board of pharmacy internship requirements.