Pharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on living organisms where a drug can be broadly defined as any chemical substance, natural or synthetic, which affects a biological system. Studies may involve how organisms handle drugs, mechanism of drug action, the use of drugs as tools to delineate biological processes during health and disease, identification and validation of new cellular targets for drug action, and the design and development of new drugs. Because of its scope, pharmacology is an interdisciplinary science employing experimental approaches from many other scientific disciplines.
The academic missions of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics are:
• To facilitate and promote fundamental and translational research which impacts the health of our citizens
• To educate and train undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and professional students in the discipline of pharmacology
• To provide professional service to the college, institution, community and at the national level