Pharmacology
MS-1 and MS-2

August 17, 2009 - February 26, 2010

Course Director
Jack C. Yalowich, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology
yalowich@pitt.edu

Course Description

This course covers the critical crossroads in medicine where the rational use of drugs dictates an understanding of physiology, disease processes and cellular function. As such, the material is closely integrated into relevant pathophysiology courses throughout all segments of this block.

The goals of the course are:

1. to introduce basic pharmacological principles, including mechanisms of action, dose-effect relationships, absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity.
2. to present principles of drug action and administration that govern rational drug selection and usage including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, i.e. considerations in designing and adjusting a drug regimen.
3. to explore the interactions of chemicals with biological systems.
4. to teach drug effects on organ systems, drug development and drug usage as a continuum from laboratory to clinic.
5. to develop attitudes of critical analysis, based upon sound scientific principles, so that the student will neither consider present therapeutic practices as final, immutable, nor commit themselves prematurely to new agents.
6. to provide a background for therapeutic decision-making, including the important function of weighing possible risk against probable benefit.

Educational Methods

	Lectures		Conferences
	Question-and-answer sessions		Practical problems

Evaluation

Evaluation in this course is based on content questions incorporated into all Organ Systems Pathophysiology course examinations. These questions contribute to the OSP course performance and are also separately tracked for this course.

Grading: This course comprises 100% of the grade for the Organ Systems Pathophysiology Block, Section 4. The block section is graded Honors or Satisfactory.