Graduate Courses

Coordinator: Dr. Cindy Woodland

This course is offered in alternate years.

This course is a seminar-based course in which students critique scientific papers in the area of toxicology. Faculty members from a wide variety of disciplines will guide these sessions and give an overview of the relevant issues in the field. Students are evaluated by oral and written critiques of the scientific literature and by their participation in class discussions. 

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Peter McPherson

A survey course examining several contemporary topics in toxicology with emphasis on human/mammalian toxicology. Topics in the course may include: adverse drug reactions, acute poisonings, natural toxins, maternal-fetal toxicology, forensic toxicology, environmental chemistry, pesticides, dioxins, endocrine disruptors, regulatory toxicology, occupational toxicology, food toxicology, herbal products, alcohol, smoking, and drugs of abuse. Students are evaluated by their performance on written tests and assignments.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Ebba Kurz

A survey course examining several contemporary topics in toxicology with emphasis on human/mammalian toxicology. Topics in the course may include: adverse drug reactions, acute poisonings, natural toxins, maternal-fetal toxicology, forensic toxicology, environmental chemistry, pesticides, dioxins, endocrine disruptors, regulatory toxicology, occupational toxicology, food toxicology, herbal products, alcohol, smoking, and drugs of abuse. Students are evaluated by their performance on written tests and assignments.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Peter McPherson

Seminars are given by invited external speakers, Department faculty members and graduate students. Although students are not expected to attend every seminar, a minimum attendance level of 50 seminars is required to receive course credit, and students will be penalized for a poor attendance record. The penalty will be essay assignment(s) on seminar topics that the student has missed. Additional requirements for this course are the presentation of three Departmental seminars during the course of the PhD program.

Grade Scale: CR/NCR
Credits: 1.0 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Cindy Woodland

This course explores a variety of topics in clinical pharmacology with emphasis on the application of pharmacokinetic principles. Clinical cases are used to highlight a breadth of topics in clinical pharmacology and toxicology including variability in drug response, adverse drug reactions, clinical study design, and pharmacoeconomics.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 1.0 FCE
 

Coordinator: Drs. Nicole Mittmann & Prateek Lala

This course introduces fundamental principles of clinical research and provides students with the skills necessary for the design, execution, analysis, and critical evaluation of clinical studies in pharmacology. Students will become familiar with various research approaches, methodologies, and strategies commonly employed in clinical pharmacology. Specifically, lectures will cover observational and experimental study designs and techniques; clinical data measurements, collection, and analysis; evidence review (systematic reviews/meta-analysis); ethical, legal, and regulatory guidelines governing clinical research; safety monitoring and adverse event reporting (pharmacovigilance); and key principles of pharmacoeconomics. In addition, students will be introduced to current topics and conceptual issues related to clinical research in pharmacology, and will learn to critically appraise clinical research.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Cindy Woodland

Grade Scale: CR/NCR
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Drs. Peter McPherson and Martin Beaulieu

Systems Pharmacology I examines a variety of drugs and drug classes with an emphasis on drugs acting on the central nervous system and immune systems as well as those used in cancer and infectious diseases. A comprehensive approach to drug properties and the interactions of these drugs with the human body are discussed with a focus on mechanisms of drug action, clinical indications and adverse effects. Drugs are introduced in lecture sessions and discussed from a clinical perspective in small group sessions. Small group sessions involve in-depth examinations of the scientific literature and clinical cases.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Rebecca Laposa

The aim of this course is to provide instruction on the basic principles of drug development, with a primary focus on the application of fundamental principles of pharmacology and toxicology to the design and conduct of early phase clinical trials. Students will become familiar with the standard safety and pharmacokinetic assessments that take place during early clinical development, as well as with proof-of-concept and proof-of-mechanism studies, evaluations of exposure- toxicity relationships and refinement of dose selection for later phase trials. In addition to actual clinical studies, the course will examine various modeling approaches that are also conducted during drug development. At the end of the course, students should understand the phases of drug development, be able to design an early phase clinical study, understand the standardized practices and ethical implications of clinical research, and be aware of some of the scientific and non-scientific career paths/roles in drug development.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE
 

Coordinator: Dr. Anita Hamadanizadeh

The overall goal of this laboratory course is to provide students with practical experience and understanding of experimental methods used in clinical pharmacology research. The 12-session course will be taught through a combination of wet labs and dry labs. During wet labs, groups (~3-5 individuals per group) will be given a drug that they will investigate in the laboratory. Dry labs will involve lectures, case studies, and assignments. Topics will include assessments of drug solubility, absorption/bioavailability and bioequivalence, distribution and protein binding, biotransformation, renal excretion, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics modeling, drug-drug interaction, and assessment of pharmacodynamic effects.

Grade Scale: Letter Grade
Credits: 0.5 FCE