The Medical Pharmacology Course is a three-quarter course that begins in mid-August and ends in early May.

The course is designed to familiarize second year medical students with the fundamental principles of drug action and disposition, adverse effects, drug-drug interactions, and contraindications in the context of drug classes so as to perform well on the Step 1 Board exam and to obtain a foundation for future clinical decision-making with respect to medical therapies.

The Medical Pharmacology Course consists of lectures, small group sessions, workshops, and clinical implication sessions.  All course material including lecture notes, lecture presentations and slide sets, self-study modules and tutorial cases are posted electronically using the Blackboard system.  Faculty present lectures on all topics contained in the syllabus unless otherwise indicated in advance.  Lectures are delivered in MSB #5051 in accordance with the published academic calendar for the Year 2 medical curriculum.  These lectures provide an orientation and explanation of the scheduled topic in close relation to the syllabus entry prepared by the lecturer.  On occasion, new information not available at the time the syllabus is prepared may be introduced in the lecture.

Integration and coordination of pharmacology concept, principles and content with other year 2 courses (Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology, and Medical Foundations of Clinical Practice II) occurs where appropriate (typically in organ system topics). In addition neuropharmacology content is included specifically within the Brain and Behavior II course.

The Pharmacology small group tutorial sessions are clinical context case based and are guided by a skilled, content expert facilitator.  Groups of approximately 12 students meet periodically (approximately monthly) with a facilitator to discuss major course topics. These cases emphasize concepts, principles, drug classes, and exemplar drugs in the context of clinical cases developed by teams of basic and clinical science faculty.  Cases are presented and discussed by students with guidance from the group facilitator.  The case scenarios are posted for student access and download on Blackboard in advance of each session.  An annotated discussion of the case scenarios is posted on Blackboard shortly after the completion of each tutorial.  These notes incorporate answers to student questions that come up during the tutorial case discussions.