History and Overview

The College of Pharmacy is located in the Health Science Center in Gainesville and in three off-campus sites in Jacksonville, Orlando, and St. Petersburg. Students admitted to the off-campus sites receive instruction by videostreaming of lectures and course materials on the College’s website. Faculty located at the off-campus facilities enhance instruction and coordinate learning activities. Affiliated clinical teaching sites throughout the state augment the clinical education component of the professional curriculum. In this environment the pharmacy student has an excellent opportunity to learn to provide pharmaceutical care to patients.

The mission statements of the College of Pharmacy are as follows:

• The College of Pharmacy promotes the health and welfare of the people of Florida and the nation by preparing graduates in pharmacy to take independent professional responsibility for the outcome of drug therapy in patients. Graduates have the scientific and cultural background necessary to assume leadership roles in the profession and the community.
• The College of Pharmacy promotes and fosters graduate and postdoctoral education in the pharmaceutical and clinical sciences. The college educates students to be distinguished contributors to pharmacy and its related disciplines.
• The faculty gives its members the opportunity and encouragement to develop fully as teachers and scholars, and to excel among their peers.
• The College of Pharmacy supports and develops quality research programs that seek to advance the knowledge and skills of pharmacists and the associated scientific community.
• The College of Pharmacy provides leadership for the continuing professional growth and development of pharmacy, both in Florida and nationally.
• The College of Pharmacy cooperates in a service capacity with other institutions to provide specialty advanced training, as well as with the state and the profession in areas where the faculty possess unique expertise.
• The College of Pharmacy provides opportunities to practicing pharmacists to maintain and enhance their competencies for professional practice.

Faculty and students have garnered numerous awards that indicate their commitment and dedication to the profession of pharmacy and the scientific community.

• appointments to prestigious editorial boards of scientific journals
• fellowships in professional organizations
• research achievement awards from professional organizations, and
• appointments to national task forces, grant review committees for the National Institutes of Health and the accreditation council for pharmacy.

Two pharmacy faculty have been selected Researcher of the Year in Florida and others have held elected offices in state and national pharmacy organizations.

Pharmacy students have established a tradition of active involvement in the profession and community.

• elected to regional and national offices within pharmacy student organizations
• recognized for their outstanding leadership through national awards such as the American Pharmaceutical Association/Academy of Students of Pharmacy Leadership award
• selected first place winners in the national patient counseling competition, and
• won first place honors in national competitions with papers addressing a topic in pharmacy education.

Pharmacists are in high demand within the health care system. As this system continues to reform and evolve, the pharmacist’s role as an expert on the use of medications will continue to expand.

Pharmacy education emphasizes the pharmacist’s abilities to assess a patient’s condition in the context of problems with medication use, to monitor the effects of medications on patients, to advise and counsel patients about appropriate use of medications and to consult with other health care professionals on the proper management of medications to treat diseases.

The Doctor of Pharmacy program is fully accredited by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education, 311 West Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60610; 312-664-3575.

The College of Pharmacy has four campus sites in the state of Florida to provide the education necessary for students to meet the requirements of the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. These sites are Gainesville, Jacksonville, Orlando and St. Petersburg. The Gainesville campus site presently admits 130 students while the three other campus sites each admit approximately 50 students in the first professional year.

The Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum is delivered to students in the off-campus sites via videostreaming of pharmacy lectures. Students receive these lectures on their computers within several hours of the presentation. Students in the off-campus sites must meet several times per week during the semester to review integrated case studies, present projects, participate in question and answer sessions, and review lecture material before examinations.

All students take examinations in the evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on designated days. All students receive the same curriculum, take the same examinations, and complete the same requirements for the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Pharmacy students in the off-campus program interact with faculty facilitators at the campus site, and they communicate with course coordinators and individual lecturers through computer e-mail and discussion sessions using the Blackboard forum on their computers. Each campus site has a director, coordinator of student affairs, staff, and faculty facilitators to provide an excellent educational experience. Each campus site has student organizations that enrich the curriculum experience.