Precision Medicine meets Patient Care
With a dual degree in Pharmacogenomics and Pharmacy, you will be positioned to both shape the future of personalized medicine and deliver optimal patient care to a diverse patient population. This dual-degree program expands opportunities available to Pharmacy graduates as they pursue careers in clinical pharmacogenomics-based positions, the pharmaceutical industry, or academia.
Pharmacogenomics is a fast-growing field that explores a patient’s DNA sequence to determine how they are most likely to respond to medications. Pharmacogenomics supports personalized or precision medicine, which connects a patient’s genetics, epigenetics, environment, and lifestyle to design a treatment plan that will best suit the patient. The goal of this modern approach to medication therapy is to optimize response and beneficial outcomes while limiting adverse effects and toxicities.
Why choose the PharmD/MS in Pharmacogenomics?
When you pursue a graduate degree in Pharmacogenomics while earning your PharmD, you'll save time and tuition as you prepare to enter the field. On campus PharmD students are eligible to apply for the Master of Science in Pharmacogenomics (MSPGx) degree program during their first year in the PharmD program. The dual-degree program is designed to maximize the required MSPGx and PharmD curricula, and the two programs share 13 required and 6 elective credits, with an additional 5 MSPGx credits waived for PharmD students. By taking advantage of summer semesters, the dual-degree program can be accomplished in four years—finishing within the same time as the PharmD degree.
*PharmD Distance Learning students are not eligible for this dual degree program.
What Will You Study?
The curriculum entails a competency-based framework, using integrated content and teaching, problem-based approaches when appropriate, integrated technology, and experiential exposure threaded throughout. It is designed to incrementally develop strong scientific foundations (in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, social and administrative, and clinical sciences) and professional skills.
Through foundational and advanced courses in Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Medical Genetics, Genetic Counseling, Pharmacogenetics, Genetic Research, and Data Analysis, and others, as well as skill building experiential courses in the laboratory and clinic, you’ll be well versed to enter the field of precision medicine.
Courses are taught in the state-of-the-art classrooms and labs of the Center for the Science and Pharmacy and will prepare you for career opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, within regulatory institutions, or at clinical sites. As a WNE graduate, you will also possess the skillsets prized by employers: divergent thinking, communication, teamwork, leadership, and an entrepreneurial mindset—essential to careers in discovery and innovation.
