Careers in Pharmacology
There are still many diseases we need to find treatments and cures for, such as AIDS, cancer, cystic fibrosis, malaria. Pharmacologists are going to be busy for a long time.
Pharmacology is the study of drugs. In this context drugs are defined as "chemicals which affect the functioning of the body" rather than the narrower definitions such as "substances of abuse" or even "medicines". This is because some compounds of great interest to pharmacologists are never used in medicines. Clinical pharmacology is the study of drugs in man and it is an integral part of pharmacology. Pharmacologists are drug hunters, study how drugs work in the body and what this tells us about how the body itself works.
Pharmacology plays a major role in human health and society. Pharmacologists are responsible for the discovery of hundreds of chemicals used in the treatment of disease and the relief of human and animal suffering.
The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries depend heavily on pharmacology for their notable success. The pharmaceutical industry in the UK employs around 70,000 people and its exports in 1997 were worth £5.5 billion. The world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies have a home base in the UK and many of the most widely used drugs in medicine were discovered here.
Molecular biology is a very powerful tool which has greatly aided the understanding of how drugs work and advanced pharmacological knowledge. This technique, together with genomics, will continue to have great impact on pharmacology and will undoubtedly be responsible for many of the exciting developments in drug discovery which will occur in the next few years.
A wide variety of career options are open to those with pharmacology qualifications:
- Drug hunting in the pharmaceutical industry involves research at the cutting edge of many aspects of biology using the most modern techniques and facilities.
- Basic or applied biology research in Universities and other institutions covers areas as diverse as AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer's dementia.
- Clinical research takes drugs from the laboratory into the clinic and establishes the effectiveness of medicines in patients.
- Product registration, pharmaceutical sales and information science also provide fascinating career options for pharmacologists.
- Pharmacology provides a broad scientific training and pharmacologists also work in legal environments (e.g. patents), regulatory bodies, the financial sector, teaching, general management and general science.
Pharmacology is a degree subject in its own right. It can also be studied jointly with another science, for example pharmacology and biochemistry pharmacology and immunology or pharmacology and cell biology. It is an essential subject in the curriculum for degrees in pharmacy, medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine. To study pharmacology A or A/S levels in chemistry, biology and physics or mathematics will be needed. Sandwich courses are available at some universities, which enable students to obtain direct experience of industrial research environments. Many pharmacology graduates go on to undertake further qualifications, such as MScs and PhDs, which are usually necessary for research careers. It is quite common to undertake a period of post-doctoral work overseas.
There is considerable interchange between the academic and industrial research worlds although, in common with most fields, the financial rewards are higher in the industrial sector.
British Pharmacological Society: www.bps.ac.uk/
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