University of Florida

The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research is composed of 18 full-time and 120 part-time faculty members. We are responsible for teaching 13 didactic courses in the PharmD curriculum along with providing most of the clinical sites for the experiential portion of the curriculum.The department is proud of its national reputation as a leader in the areas of pharmacy practice, education and clinical research. Faculty members in the department have been successful in obtaining research funding from numerous sources, including the National Institutes of Health. The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research offers a variety of excellent clinical residencies and research fellowships, and is now offering, in conjunction with the Department of Pharmaceutics, a Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD program.

The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research is located in the University of Florida, J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center, a complex that includes the Colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, Health Related Professions, Dentistry, and Veterinary Medicine, Shands Hospital, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. The Health Science Center complex includes a 1.8 million volume health science library, numerous laboratories and one of the nation's most comprehensive animal resource facilities. The location of the College of Pharmacy in this complex offers a broad variety of opportunities for learning and research collaboration.

Shands Hospital is a 568-bed, private, nonprofit referral center affiliated with the Health Science Center. The Department of Pharmacy Services provides both inpatient and outpatient pharmaceutical services to the patient population of Shands Hospital and affiliated clinics. Inpatient pharmacy services consist of a combined decentralized/centralized unit-dose drug distribution system.

Fellowships

Fellowships in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research are highly individualized programs designed to prepare the fellow to become an independent researcher. Fellows usually work with a single preceptor, however, joint ventures with more than one faculty member are possible. Clinical practice and teaching are also usually incorporated into a training program, but at a minimal percent effort. Fellowship programs are usually two years in length, which is considered the minimum training period for research training. Support for these fellowships varies with the type of training, but salaries are competitive. In order to be awarded a fellowship certificate, the fellow must present a seminar each year in the departmental seminar series, must present research data at a national meeting and must have been a primary author on at least one original manuscript.

The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research has an impressive record of research accomplishments. Most of the full-time faculty in the department are known nationally for their expertise in their chosen field of research. The department has been very successful in attracting external funding to maintain their research productivity, and many of the fellows have been awarded competitive extramural funding for their fellowships.

Post-doctoral residencies in the department primarily train pharmacists for professional practice. All residency programs are structured to allow residents to achieve maximum benefit from their training. Residents are precepted by a single faculty member who is responsible for designing a program to meet the needs of the resident and clinical facility. Residencies are usually 12 months in length. Residencies emphasize clinical practice. Teaching and research are also included in some programs.