Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences offers undergraduate and graduate students unparalleled training for future careers in pharmacy, medicine, and biomedical research. Our innovative, rigorous curriculum integrates concepts from biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, pharmacology and physiology. Alumni purse exciting professional opportunities that improve our societies health and well-being.
Pharmaceutical Scientists are rapidly changing the field of drug discovery and development. Graduates of our program are well qualified to seek employment in the public and private sectors, or pursue graduate degrees such as Ph.D., M.D., or Pharm.D.
Pharmaceutical Sciences News
Dr. Mahtab Jafari Weighs in on Families Expanding Their Pandemic Bubble to Include Children’s Girlfriends and Boyfriends
In a report by CNN many parents are making the decisions to include their children’s boyfriends or girlfriends to their pandemic bubbles. In the report Dr. Mahtab Jafari encourages that if families decided to include their children’s significant others to their pandemic pods, it is important to have open communication and to set realistic boundaries within the household.
UCI study first to link disparities and ‘pharmacy deserts’ in California
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 6, 2021— In the United States, Black, Latino and low-income communities have historically lacked nearby access to pharmacy services. To provide the first
Pharmaceutical Sciences Research and Innovation Amidst COVID-19: Chaput Lab’s Development of COVID-19 Therapeutic
Faculty at UCI’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, have been working on innovative solutions to mitigate the detrimental effects of COVID-19. Professor John Chaput
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What are the Pharmaceutical Sciences?
Drug Discovery & Design
Drug Discovery and Design deals with the design and synthesis of new drug molecules. This Category Includes specialized fields of study such as medicinal chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, structural biology, identification of biological targets, and assay development to test drug candidates.
Drug Delivery
Drug Delivery is concerned with the design of dosage forms — such as tablets, injections or patches — that will deliver the drug to the site of action in a patient. The purpose is to ensure that the drug arrives in the right concentration and at the right time. Specialty fields within Drug Delivery include pharmaceutics, biomaterials, and pharmacokinetics.
Drug Action
Drug Action examines how the drug itself actually works in a living system, which is the definition of pharmacology. The action of the drug can be studied at the molecular level, in a cell, an organ, and in animals. Specialty fields within Drug Action include molecular biology, pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, toxicology, and biochemistry.pharmaceutics, biomaterials, and pharmacokinetics.
Clinical Sciences
Clinical Sciences are concerned with the use of drugs in the treatment of diseases. Particular properties of new drugs — such as efficacy, adverse effects, drug-to-drug interaction, bioavailability — are determined in clinical trials in humans.
Cost Effectiveness of Medicine
Cost Effectiveness of Medicines (Pharmacoeconomics) examines the economic impact of using one drug rather than others, with regard to costs for the drug itself, patient management (e.g., physician visits, hospitalization), adherence and quality of life.
Drug Analysis
Drug Analysis involves separating, identifying, and quantifying the components of a sample. Analytical chemistry is an important component of all areas of the pharmaceutical sciences.
Regulatory Affairs
Regulatory Affairs promotes communication, understanding, and cooperation between scientists from industry and academia and the regulatory authorities worldwide who govern approval and distribution, by means of developing regulatory guidelines.
More and more, these categories are beginning to overlap. For example, a scientific engineer working in Drug Delivery needs to understand how toxicology affects Drug Action, and a chemist working in Drug Discovery and Design must know about the pharmacokinetics of Drug Delivery. For this reason, pharmaceutical scientists are required to have a broad base of knowledge in a variety of sciences.
Career Opportunities
Over the years, pharmaceutical scientists have been instrumental in discovering and developing innovative drugs that save thousands of people’s lives and improve the quality of life for many others. Pharmaceutical scientists can pursue a variety of jobs. They are employed by pharmaceutical companies, they work as pharmacists, doctors, and as researchers and professors at universities, as regulatory scientists for agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and as researchers at national laboratories such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Learn More about the history of Drug Discovery
Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty
| Name | Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 | Amal Alachkar | Professor of Teaching (LSOE) | aalachka@uci.edu |
 | Claudia Benavente | Assistant Professor | Claudia.benavente@uci.edu |
 | Richard Chamberlin | Chair, Professor Emeritus | Richard.chamberlin@uci.edu |
 | John Chaput | Professor | jchaput@uci.edu |
 | Olivier Civelli | Professor | ocivelli@uci.edu |
 | Frederick Ehlert | Professor Emeritus | fjehlert@uci.edu |
 | Kelvin Gee | Professor | kwgee@uci.edu |
 | Celia Goulding | Professor | celia.goulding@uci.edu |
 | Stephen Hanessian | Professor | shanessi@uci.edu |
 | Naoto Hoshi | Associate Professor | nhoshi@uci.edu |
 | Mahtab Jafari | Professor | mjafari@uci.edu |
 | Young Jik Kwon | Professor | kwonyj@uci.edu |
 | Frances Leslie | Professor | fmleslie@uci.edu |
 | Andrej Luptak | Professor | aluptak@uci.edu |
 | David Mobley | Professor Vice Chair | dmobley@uci.edu |
 | Brian Paegel | Professor | bpaegel@uci.edu |
 | Larry Plon | Assistant Adjunct Professor | lplon@uci.edu |
 | Thomas Poulos | Professor | poulos@uci.edu |
 | Sam Schriner | Professor of Teaching (LPSOE) Vice Chair | schriner@uci.edu |
 | Robert Spitale | Founding Associate Dean of Research and Professor | rspitale@uci.edu |
 | Qun-Yong Zhou | Professor | qzhou@uci.edu |
 | Weian Zhao | Associate Professor | weianz@uci.edu |
