Pharm.D.

Temple's Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program meets the professional challenges of all areas of pharmacy practice. Our guiding philosophy is to prepare students to serve society as caring, ethical, and learning professionals while making them enlightened citizens.

Dr. David Lebo in pharmacy lab recitation

Temple's Pharm.D. program requires six years of study divided into two components. The first requires the completion of two years of pre-professional education at an accredited institution of higher learning. The professional education component requires four years of study at the School of Pharmacy.

All students at the professional level begin in the fall semester. The professional program unfolds as a continuum of topics that range from the fundamentals of drug action and dosage form design up to and including the safe and efficacious use of therapeutic agents in the provision of pharmaceutical care to patients. Many of the courses are structured as a mix of didactic lectures and problem-based small group recitations. In the first three years of the professional program, the students complete course clusters including, the science of dosage form design, development and application drug action and use, normal and abnormal physiologic states, law, pharmacoeconomics, drug information, patient counseling, and professional or specialty electives.

Dr. Nicole Sifontis with students at her clinic.

The fourth professional year is comprised of clerkship rotations in a variety of community, hospital, and institutional settings wherein students apply the concepts of pharmaceutical care and refine their problem-solving and interpersonal communication skills. Rotations are scheduled over a 12-month period beginning in May, and, in addition to patient care venues, may also include other professional settings that broaden the student's experience.