Pharmacology for second year college

O.P.H

I'm in first science(und) at NUIG and am thinking of doing pharmacology as one of my 3 choices next year. Most other subject that you can choose from I have a good idea of what they will intail but my knowlegde of Pharmacology is pretty basic. Can someone tell me exactly what to expect and what kinda of subjects you would need to be good at to get along in it (is it more chem than bio etc). Can you become a fully qualified pharmacologist by doing your science degree and speciallising in it for your fourth year or do you have to go down a medicine route etc. Do pharmacologists make decent money. Any ino would be great, cheers!

bleg

need to have a fairly good idea of physiology more than anything else

Kurtosis

I'd say it's definitely more biology than chemistry (in terms of Leaving Cert subjects). The bulk of it is organ systems, what is involved in disease states and then the drug that can be used to treat it and the mechanism of action (processes/pathways it affects).

I'd highly recommend it as a subject, it really is very interesting and can give great insight into how signalling works in the body and how some drugs function.

SomeDose

O.P.H wrote: »

I'm in first science(und) at NUIG and am thinking of doing pharmacology as one of my 3 choices next year. Most other subject that you can choose from I have a good idea of what they will intail but my knowlegde of Pharmacology is pretty basic. Can someone tell me exactly what to expect and what kinda of subjects you would need to be good at to get along in it (is it more chem than bio etc). Can you become a fully qualified pharmacologist by doing your science degree and speciallising in it for your fourth year or do you have to go down a medicine route etc. Do pharmacologists make decent money. Any ino would be great, cheers!

It's definitely an interesting subject, although to be honest I'm not aware of many jobs in which you would be employed specifically as a pharmacologist (especially with just an undergrad degree). It's a qualification that lends itself more to research...and most people I know who studied it (medics & pharmacists) have it as a post-grad qualification to augment their professional practice.

O.P.H

Well I intended to do pharmacology, physiology and anatomy for second year with the aim of specialising in pharm for fourth year and maybe do a phd. I heard that even after 4 years of pharm you can walk into a very well payed job with any pharmaceutical company. Apparently can make anywhere between 60 to 80k and work up to 120k, but money aint the reason im looking at pharmacology,

tallaght01

A lot of people who graduate with pharmacology degrees go into jobs with pharma companies. But very often it's as a drug rep. This, in my opinion, is tantamount to selling your soul

These guys go around to doctors and nurses and try to convince them that their new drug is the best on the market, often with pretty scant regard for the actual evidence.

It's well paid, and the usually give you a BMW or something like it as a company car. But I couldn't do it, no matter how much you paid me.

On topic. I LOVED pharmacology. It's more biology than chemistry when you learn it at med school. But the formulation side of it involves a shed load of really difficult chemistry. I know the pharmacists do a lot of that, but not sure about pharmacologists.

seraphimvc

finishing my 2nd yr Pharm in UCD love it.from the info i have gathered:

basically you need to know Pharmacy= professional dealer trained to sell drugs ,pharmacology = all about drugs.it is science based and will highly lead you to lab work in the future.meaning that pharmacy people do pharmacology in their course too,but wont be as focus as us,they need to some business management stuffs etc,in simple words,logically ,pharmacology will be tougher as a course,cause' it purely focuses on pharmacology(we need to eat the whole Rang& dale's but pharmacy will defo eat less than us).

while you are doing the major course,inevitably you will have to choose some minor subjects(2or3 each yr) along with your course(the new horizon credit system ),like physio,chem,biochem,biomolecule etc,your call,just some stuffs within science area.some people i know doing joint degree,like pharm+physio etc - thats a different story,most of us do a pharm major.

for the chem or bio part,guess what,you need both,you will need really detailed stuffs depends on the subjects.example like in renal,you will go detail of the kidney,neuphrons(that's bio and physio) and into diuretics ,transporter ,ions(chem and physio mechanism).dont worry about the bio/chem part,they are just basic in all health/bio/chem related subjects,you'll need them anyway.
while needless to say if you have the chemistry base knowledge,the more advantage you got ,think of the subject like drug design ,toxicology.same with bio too,they are not priority but they are necessary at some point.drug+ the corresponding organ,you get the idea.generally,people i know in pharm avoid chem/maths stuffs,while i am one of those who still take chem/maths related subject:pac:

of course we will be qualified as pharmacologist when we get the degree:pac:same like chemist,microbiologist etc but i guess if you are gonna do PhD,you will choose to master in one field,like renal/cardio/immunology etc.from what i know is it not only UCD has the Pharmacology major?not sure about that.

go with your interest!money?trust me you will get a good job in whatever science courses you do.have you heard a professional not doing well?:p

Thephantomsmask

OP, l went to nui galway a few years back & did the subjects you're planning. It,s a well rounded choice with a lot of overlap. 2nd year focuses mainly on cell signalling pathways like transmembrane proteins, 3rd year on action within specific organs systems such as the CNS. The main focus is less on the disease process and more on the drug process, 4th year being research based, with the way the NUIG course is organised l would consider it very much a biochemistry course than physiology.

The people doing the neurophysiology and anatomy taught masters from other degree courses share most of the lectures with 2nd & 3rd year undergrads in the subjects you're choosing. A lot of people who graduated with a pharmacology degree in my year went straight into QC or R&D jobs in pharmaceutical companies, which the technical focus gives great background for, with several 1:1 students being offered Phds.

I did my degree in anatomy & have just finished my 3 year in clinical measurement in DIT as l always wanted a patient orientated clinical career with a scientific slant, due to my love of science, such as a perfusionist and love what I'm doing now, I'm neurophysiology as my major subject next year with cardiology as a minor.

ETA: My year was the first to do undergrad pharm so it,s possible that changes have been made from what l did, maybe you should get some extra info from the dept.