Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on living organisms, where the term 'drug' can be defined as a chemical substance, natural or synthetic, which affects a biological system. A knowledge of pharmacology and pharmacological concepts is fundamental to the safe and effective use of medicines by health professionals, is essential for the identification of new therapeutic targets and their pharmacological modulation and can lead to increased understanding of human physiology. An understanding of the way in which drugs produce their effects is becoming increasingly important as the use and abuse of drugs becomes more widespread in our society.

Pharmacology at Monash provides students with an understanding of the major pharmacological concepts and how they can be applied to the use of drugs in the treatment of specific diseases and the development of new therapeutics. A variety of teaching modes are used to provide students with opportunities to understand how variety of chemicals and drugs produce their effects on living organisms and to apply this knowledge to critically evaluate information relating to use of drugs. Those involved in the teaching of Pharmacology at Monash are experts in their fields and engaging teachers, thus the content of the available units includes the most recent advances in pharmacology along with ideas as to where studies in pharmacology can lead.

A major in Pharmacology provides a foundation for a career in drug discovery and development either as part of a reseach program in a university or research institute, within the biotechnology/pharmacuetical industry or in government regulatory bodies. In addition, the units included in this major will be of benefit to those wishing to undertake graduate studies in a range of health profession courses.

Availability

Pharmacology is listed in S2000 Bachelor of Science, S3001 Bachelor of Science Advanced - Global Challenges (Honours) and S3002 Bachelor of Science Advanced - Research (Honours) at Clayton as a major or minor.

The pharmacology minor and major is not available in the double degree course S2007 Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Biomedical Science.

Outcomes

In addition to achieving the broad outcomes of their course, students successfully completing this major will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the importance of endogenous substances in health and disease and their relevance as therapeutic targets
• apply concepts in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to explain the action of substances on biological systems
• collect, organise, analyse and interpret pharmacological data meaningfully using experimental and computational approaches.