PharmD Electives

Basic Drug Development
Even years
 

Introductory graduate course on the fundamental concepts of drug formulation and development, including discussions of the crucial physicochemical and biopharmaceutical characteristics necessary for drug absorption.

Drug Delivery
Odd years

A study at the advanced level of the physical and biological principles which apply to the design, development, and evaluation of drug delivery systems. Specific examples of modern systems such as transdermal preparations, liposomes, implants, monoclonal antibodies, and those involving site-targeting will be discussed.

Protein Pharmaceuticals
Even years
 

Introduction to pharmaceutical issues associated with the development of protein and antibody drugs, in particular, production, formulation, stability, characterization and analysis, Pharmacokinetics & dynamics, immunogenicity, delivery, Bio-similar, bio-betters and next generation protein products.

Positron Emission Tomography

This course will introduce students to the modalities used in molecular imaging. Four imaging modalities will be covered. Those are optical imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Single Photon Imaging Technology (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). It is designed to introduce students to the basics of each modality. The students spend time at the radiochemistry laboratory for the production of human use PET radiopharmaceuticals. They are exposed to automated synthesizer, HPLC and other equipment needed to complete the quality control tests required by USP. The students also spend time in MRI camera laboratory and learn the practical aspect of MRI imaging.

CTT Research Rotation
 

This course will be offered to Health Care Professionals (i.e., Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Public Health) and students graduating in the health or medical sciences including Biomedical Science, Pharmaceutical. This course will focus on providing students pragmatic research experiences who are participating in the CTT M.S. Program through intensive research rotations.

Clinical Research Methods
 

This course will introduce the student to the concepts and analytical foundation underlying evidence-based pharmacy practice and clinical research.  Course content will focus on: concepts of evidence-based practice; fundamentals of research including measurement, reliability, validity, and ethical concerns; an overview of the FDA approval process; clinical research designs; data analysis and presentation; and the structure and evaluation of clinical research proposals and reports.  Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to critically evaluate the medical literature for use in clinical and or/administrative decision making.

Global Health Outreach
 

This course is designed to expose students to issues surrounding global health including what world interdependence means, considerations in treating noncommunicable diseases in low-income countries, pharmacists' role/servant leadership, concerns and regulations regarding medication use and acquisition outside the USA, and opportunities that exist for pharmacists in global health. Students will also be exposed to possible opportunities to participate in global health outreach such as medical mission trips, advanced rotation experiences, and short-term trips.

Teaching and Learning Theory

The supervised teaching course provides instruction on learning theory and best teaching practices. This will provide the P3 students at the University at Buffalo opportunities to learn about teaching modalities and apply them in small group sessions and evaluate students' performance in pharmaceutical care activities during teaching assistant activities.

Clinical Evaluation of New Drugs
 

PHM 607 is a 1-credit hour course offered in the Fall Semester to students in the third professional year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. The course is intended to build on drug information skills introduced to students in the P2 year and prepare information for presentation to peers and pharmacists on newly approved drugs.

Practical Oncology
 

Many patients seen in healthcare settings such as community pharmacy, ambulatory care and acute care often come across individuals undergoing active therapies for their cancer diagnosis. Often times these complications are treated in settings out of the direct oversight of their oncologists. This course will look through the lenses of non-oncologists/oncology pharmacists as they treat common complications, presentations and side effects that can routinely be seen in other settings. Topics such as nausea and vomiting, febrile neutropenia and infections, tumor lysis syndrome, hypercalcemia of malignancy and bone health as well as others will be discussed.

Specialty Pharmacy
 

This elective allows students to gain knowledge and expertise in the field of specialty pharmacy. This course will focus on development of clinical and practical knowledge of specialty pharmaceuticals as well as critical thinking and applications of clinical knowledge to solve actual patient problems. It is a pharmacy elective course designed primarily for students interested in expanding their knowledge of specialty pharmaceuticals.

Book Club Discussion
 

This is an in person, small discussion group of one book that involves a health or health care theme and the intersection with health care disparities.  

Cardiology and Critical Care Pharmacotherapy
 

Cardiology and critical care pharmacotherapy is an elective course offered to third year professional pharmacy students. The course will cover the pathophysiology and therapeutics of various disease states encountered in these populations. The course will also address challenges to providing pharmaceutical care to these populations, with a particular focus on selecting the appropriate drug, dosage, and route of administration.

Supervised Teaching
Instructor permission only
 

Teaching assistants serve various roles in courses throughout pharmacy school. Supervised Teaching allows faculty to recognize students who participate as teaching assistants in their courses as review session holders, content creators, and simulated patients, to name a few responsibilities.

Supervised Teaching for PHC Course
 

Teaching Assistants

Advanced Pharmacodynamics
 

This graduate elective course presents principles and applications of quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) topics that is focused on biochemical reaction networks. QSP is essential to characterize drug action at the molecular scale and has numerous applications to drug development and clinical pharmacology.

Population PKPD Modeling

This course introduces population pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling methods, including the use of state-of-the-art software and tools (in particular, NONMEM) to analyze PK and PD data.

Pharmaceutics Seminar
Instructor permission only

Guidance in research in connection with graduate thesis. May be taken more than once for credit.

Research
Instructor permission only

Research

Cannabis: A Review of its Pharmacology, Mythology, and Implications

As policies related to adult-use recreational cannabis and medical marijuana continue to evolve, individuals are faced with a range of complex questions. Are you curious about the short and long-term benefits and harms of marijuana/cannabis use? Do you want to the separate the fact from fiction regarding the health claims for THC and CBD? The course will include basic information about the cannabis plant and its pharmacologic components, the bodily systems involved in the action and metabolism of cannabinoids, and the history of cannabis policy in the US. The course will explore the evolving status of cannabis use, the health claims and health effects of cannabis use (including effects of THC and CBD), and the evolving changes in medicinal and adult-use cannabis.  This course is the same as CHB 529 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

Pharmacy Leadership
Scholars Program students only

There exists a critical leadership shortage within the profession of pharmacy. PHM550 is a 1 credit course designed for students enrolled at the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy. The course is scheduled to meet during the fall semester. The primary goal of this course is to provide students identified as the future leaders of our profession with the tools necessary to develop their ability to effectively lead others, inside and outside their profession. Students will be assigned introductory readings in the following areas: identifying one's strengths; people skills, personalities, and networking; relationships and working effectively with others; team-building and team-managing; professionalism and ethics; supervising, managing, and leading; developing a professional practice vision, setting goals, and establishing priorities; and, integrating one's personal life and career. Students keep a reflective journal or complete an assignment for each reading, detailing: what they learned from the reading; the statement, passage or quote that was most profound to them; and an example detailing how they incorporated what they learned into their professional life. Classroom discussions will be student led, facilitated by the course coordinator, and will be based on readings, reflective journal exercises, and cases.

Clinical Research Methods
Clinical Research Program students only

PHM552 is a 1 credit hour course to prepare Doctor of Pharmacy students accepted into the Clinical Research Program for participation in clinical research careers.  The course includes lectures, recitations and written assignments.  The final project for the course is the development of a defendable research protocol, informed consent document, and other supporting documenta-tion as necessary (source documents, case report forms, drug disposition records, etc).  The final project includes a written protocol and an oral presentation and defense of the protocol.

Translational Biometry
Clinical and Translational Therapeutics students only

This course will be offered to Health Care Professionals (i.e., Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, and Public Health) and students graduating in the health or medical sciences including Biomedical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences. This course will focus on the practical application of biostatistics to patient centered data using advanced pragmatic statistical and model based approaches for future pharmacists and clinicians.

Clinical and Translational Therapeutics Seminar

PHM 554 is a 1 credit hour course offered to students in the M.S. program in Clinical and Translational Therapeutics and offered to Pharmacy and Health Care Professional (i.e., Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Public Health) students enrolled in the health or medical sciences including Biomedical Science, Pharmaceutical Sciences or Pharmacology and Toxicology. Pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences students from all years are also encouraged to enroll and attend the seminar series for the school. There will be 16 1-hour seminar slots which will be held every week in the semester with a combination of internationally renowned clinical and translational therapeutic faculty outside UB and student defenses who will present to the school at large for completion of their research. Approximately 40 minutes will be devoted for the lecture and 20 minutes will be devoted for questions. Students are encouraged to activity participate in seminars with questions and will be given every opportunity to interact with the speakers.

Radiopharmacy

This course is a survey of Radiopharmacy. It will cover the basic principles of Radiopharmacy and Nuclear Medicine instrumentation, Radiopharmaceutical and Radiopharmacy design, selected Radiopharmaceuticals, and some of the regulatory and safety issues that are involved with the use of Radiopharmaceuticals in diagnosis and therapy.  Students will also observe the operation of a centralized Nuclear Pharmacy and a clinical Nuclear Medicine Department.

Selected Topics in Infectious Disease

The aim of this course is to provide interested pharmacy practice students a comprehensive introduction to a variety of advanced topics in infectious disease pharmacotherapy. Through didactic and case based learning, interested students will expand upon the knowledge gained in their pharmacotherapeutics courses, to delve more deeply into the challenges caused by global pathogens. This will prepare students for advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) rotations during their fourth year of pharmacy school, as well as for future practice increasingly globalized health care settings. This course will investigate a number of infectious diseases that arise from viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and helminths as well as agents of potential use in bioterrorism.

International Experiences
Instructor permission only

International pharmacy experiences provide students with a broader perspective on health care at a global level. These immersive experiences allow students to gain understanding on a health care setting outside the US, learn how to treat diseases that originate in other countries or are uncommon in the US, improve understanding on how culture impacts care, and provides the students with an optimal environment for self-reflection. In order to enroll in this elective, students must be preapproved for SPPS international travel. This includes our short term global health experiences with medical missions, IPPEs, and APPEs. Students can expect financial responsibility for their travel costs in alignment with our international travel policies.

Community Pharmacy Concepts

The objective of the course is to provide students with a basic understanding of the workflow of a community pharmacy and the responsibilities of a community pharmacist. This course will also provide skills and tools that can be used during IPPEs. This course would be beneficial for students with little to no community pharmacy experience or knowledge, but will also help supplement knowledge learned during work experience for students with community experience. Information will be presented to students in a primary lecture based setting. Students will be evaluated based on their attendance, an exam, and a final paper. Increasing students' general understanding of community pharmacy will allow students to focus on the clinical aspects of their IPPE and APPE community rotations.

Rare Genetic Disorders

The course will cover the pathophysiology and the pharmacotherapy available for a variety of rare genetic disorders encountered in both pediatric and adult patients.  The course will address and enhance the student's skills related to self-directed learning, patient communication, and care coordination required for these patients.

Foundations of Managed Care 

PHM 772 will be an engaging exploration of the healthcare industry from the perspective of a managed care pharmacy professional. The course will explore topics including but not limited to Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committees, formulary management, formulary decision making, pharmacy benefit management, and pharmaceutical rebate contracting.

Topics in Psychiatry

The course builds upon your knowledge of psychiatric pharmacy practice that was discussed in PHM512/PHM701. Review of the DSM 5 mental health conditions, medications used to treat, and other challenges of providing care in psychiatry will be included in this elective. The topics and ideas shared in this course will enable you to successfully manage psychiatric patient population in both the community and institutional setting.

Pediatric Pharmacotherapy
 

Pediatric pharmacotherapy is an elective course offered to third year professional pharmacy students. The course will cover the pathophysiology and therapeutics of various disease states encountered in the pediatric population. The course will also address challenges to providing pharmaceutical care to children, with a particular focus on selecting the appropriate drug, dosage, and route of administration.

Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics

PHM 795 is a 2-credit hour course for Doctor of Pharmacy students which is intended to teach and develop advanced problem-solving skills relative to the management of complex patient cases similar to those encountered in the acute and long-term care setting.  The course includes independent learning, team learning, oral presentations, recitations, and written assignments. This course will use active and team learning principles to introduce advanced therapeutic topics through the development of care plans and case presentations of complex, multi-problem patients.  During the recitations, the faculty members will facilitate discussion and clarify difficult or controversial issues, but will not present formal didactic lectures. Course materials, grades and evaluations will be administered using UBLearns. 

Supervised Teaching
Instructor permission only

Teaching assistants serve various roles in courses throughout pharmacy school. Supervised Teaching allows faculty to recognize students who participate as teaching assistants in their courses as review session holders, content creators, and simulated patients, to name a few responsibilities.