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The Pharmaceuticals Program

The revolution in pharmaceuticals over the past half-century has provided public health with some of its most important and powerful tools. However, the processes by which new drugs are developed, tested, licensed, regulated, and manufactured are poorly understood—even by most health care professionals.

The BUSPH Pharmaceuticals Program is a unique educational offering, designed to bridge those gaps and provide a practical overview of pharmaceuticals from a public health perspective. The program is available to Master of Public Health students and should be of particular interest to students considering careers in the pharmaceutical industry, service delivery programs, or pharmaceutical policy-making agencies.

Students enrolled in the program will learn:

  • what drugs are and how they work
  • how they are tested, developed, and monitored
  • how formularies are derived
  • how drugs are licensed and regulated

Students will develop key analytic skills useful for framing pharmaceutical policy and decision making in domestic and international contexts. The Pharmaceuticals Program prepares students for positions in both the public and private sectors, including positions in federal and state government agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, contracting research organizations, and international agencies.

Program Goals

The goal of the program is to provide students with the knowledge and expertise to address pharmaceutical issues from a public health perspective.

Specific Objectives

Upon completion of the Pharmaceuticals Program, the student should be able to:

  • Identify major pharmaceutical issues and priorities in the context of public health domestically and globally
  • Discuss the range of pharmaceutical research, policy, and programmatic interventions facing the global public health community—including the relevant health policy and management experiences of different organizations nationally and internationally
  • Evaluate pharmaceutical programs in the context of economics, organization, regulation, and politics
  • Contribute to the design and implementation of policy and program interventions to address pharmaceutical issues in a domestic and global public health context
  • Understand how new pharmaceuticals are tested and licensed
  • Understand the principles of how drug safety is monitored and assessed in clinical and post-marketing settings

Application Process

All students who have been accepted to BUSPH for the MPH program are eligible to apply for the Pharmaceuticals Program. Students are encouraged to apply and join the program starting with their first semester at BUSPH, but are able to enter at later points in their educational path, provided they can meet degree requirements. Students wishing to enroll must complete a Pharmaceuticals Program Entry Form and obtain signatures from Program Director Christopher Gill, then submit the form to BUSPH’s registrar.

Requirements for 2011–2012

MPH students accepted into the Pharmaceuticals Program are required to complete all MPH degree requirements, concentration requirements, and the specific program requirements. The program is geared toward full-time students who enter in the fall semester. Not all students will be able to complete the Pharmaceuticals Program and MPH requirements in three semesters.

Program requirements are as follows:

  • Students must take at least 12 core credits and earn a minimum grade of B in all courses
  • Active participation in a bi-weekly seminar series throughout the program
  • Completion of a practicum that has been approved both by the program director and the director of the student’s primary concentration

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