Advice from the best in the UAE.
I am a grade 12 student who would like to pursue pharmacology and would like to know the best colleges and their requirement for enrollment.
AUsually mistaken for pharmacy studies, pharmacology is a vastly different field that provides you with a deep knowledge of medicine. While studying pharmacy will equip you to be able to provide prescription medicines at pharmacies, pharmacology involves research, development and analysis of new drugs on the human body.
Studying pharmacology comprises studying toxicology, biology, chemistry and physiology. As a result, many students who graduate from this program usually pursue careers as biomedical scientists, pharmacologists, and clinical biochemistry specialists. More indirectly related jobs that students have pursued include being a toxicologist, patent specialist, or even a scientific writer. Research scientist positions at university or government labs, drug information specialist at pharmaceutical companies are also some of the career opportunities.
In itself, drug development is an expansive career platform with vast growth opportunities as medicine will never go out of style. Drug development includes designing and the clinical testing of a potential drug, evaluating its effects and understanding market readiness for the drug. The pharmaceutical industry recruits a huge amount of talent from campuses across the world, with large companies ever-present during career days.
However, it should be noted that many students also decide to pursue a Master’s after their degree – something that you should take into account.
In the UAE, the University of Sharjah offers an undergraduate course in pharmacy with different electives. Pharmacology, however, is offered by most reputed universities across the world, available to all international students. The University of Buffalo in the USA offers pharmacology and toxicology at both an undergraduate and Master’s level. It has an extensive program with a career oriented curriculum that is highly regarded. With its emphasis on research, the University of Buffalo’s program prepares students with the multiple opportunities to experience real-life work at every stage of drug development; from design to experimenting to the actual testing of compounds - such a program enables students to bolster their credentials through practical training that serves as a solid academic foundation for future professional opportunities.
In the UK, Bristol University offers a 3-year degree course in pharmacology. For the first two years, you have the opportunity to take a wide selection of courses such as biochemistry, molecular genetics, infection and immunity, and more. Your third and final year comprises seminars and activities that give the you a complete view of contemporary research and advancements around the world in the field of pharmacology, thereby broadening your horizons.
We can also look towards the East, where the National University of Singapore (NUS) offers a similar program. NUS provides a similar approach in teaching you a variety of different topics to help in understanding basic concepts. For example, you will be exposed to the principles of drug targeting, dose response, the process of drug absorption, and many other physiological aspects of medicine. You will get exposure to research in fields like cancer pharmacology, immuno -pharmacology and neuro-pharmacology.