The curriculum of the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences prepares students to be leaders in the profession and provides the tools to practice in academia, hospitals, clinics, long-term facilities, home care, government, health policy, the pharmaceutical industry and innovative community practices. 

The curriculum is dynamic and under frequent revision. Presently, the four-year Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum is as follows: Year 1 includes courses in anatomy, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutics, bioinformatics and an introduction to the practice of pharmacy. Year 2 is devoted to pre-clinical biomedical and biological subjects. In this unique environment, pharmacy students are enrolled in courses with first year medical students. These courses include cell biology and biochemistry, organ physiology, pharmacology, neurosciences and endocrinology, reproduction and metabolism. Supplementary courses specific to the needs of pharmacy students, such as pharmacology is also offered. Year 3 builds on the basic sciences provided in Year 2 with courses in microbiology, pathology, laboratory medicine, pharmacology and biopharmaceutics. Portions of these courses are taken with medical students. A course in therapeutics begins the process of applying the knowledge gained in the basic sciences to the clinical management of patients.

Students are expected to engage in Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPEs) in the areas of community pharmacy, institutional health-system pharmacy, health-related service learning, and simulated activities during the first three years of the pharmacy curriculum. These experiences are intended to serve as a bridge between didactic courses and fourth-year Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE). Students must complete 300 IPPE hours by the end of the Winter Quarter of the P-3 year in order to progress to fourth-year APPEs.

Year 4 is devoted entirely to clinical clerkships where students learn to apply the skills and knowledge obtained in the didactic curriculum in a variety of clinical settings. Many of these clerkship experiences take place at UCSD-affiliated medical centers, such as UCSD Medical Center - Hillcrest, UCSD Medical Center - La Jolla, The Veteran's Administration Medical Center in La Jolla, and San Diego Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Palomar and Scripps Hospital. In addition, many other facilities throughout the region are utilized and clerkship experiences in the biotechnology companies and research facilities adjacent to the UCSD campus are being implemented.

Completing a research project is required of all students and is a prerequisite for graduation. Students are encouraged to consider potential projects beginning in their first year. Students will be allowed to complete their research project in any academic year. For Pharm.D./Ph.D. program students, completion of the Ph.D. thesis project will satisfy this graduation project requirement.

The common required and elective coursework taken by pharmacy and medical students and clerkship experiences where medical and pharmacy students work closely together have been created to foster the development of cooperation between the professions as well as develop an appreciation for the unique roles that each provides to the care of patients.

All students are enrolled in the full-time, 4-year program leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. No students in advanced standing, transfer students from other schools of pharmacy or part-time students are accepted. All students enter in the first year.

Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Development (PSDD)

Graduate education in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Development (PSDD) provides training in research strategies in the design and development of novel therapeutic agents to improve human life in disease and health. The PSDD training area will provide translational sciences research training that bridges basic sciences and clinical research for the purpose of addressing the world’s challenges in unmet therapeutic needs to improve human lives. Research in pharmaceutical sciences encompasses multi-faceted, interdisciplinary drug development research in (a) design and discovery of drug molecules targeted to regulators of disease processes, including marine natural products, (b) in vitro and in vivo efficacy of candidate drug therapies, (c) chemical optimization by medicinal chemistry approaches, (d) drug pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics in ADME research based on drug delivery strategies, (e) safety and toxicity of drug molecules, and (f) advanced analytical technologies of drug molecule properties. Graduate students will be trained in these disciplines through a complete curriculum and state-of-the-art research strategies for drug development. Faculty of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPPS) and the BMS program will train students in the area of PSDD. PSDD training will provide students with exciting opportunities in the professional field to become leaders in academic, government, private industry, biotechnology, and related areas to advance innovative drug development via pharmaceutical sciences research.

For more information about the PSDD graduate program please visit: http://biomedsci.ucsd.edu/training-areas/pharma-sciences-drug-dev.html 

Contact Vivian Hook at vhook@ucsd.edu