Clinical Pharmacology

If English is not your first language and you are not a national of a country deemed by either the UK Home Office or St George’s, University of London to be ‘majority English speaking’ listed here, you will be required to meet the English Language requirements outlined below. Tests are valid for a period of two years.

We are looking for students who are excited by science and motivated by curiosity and a desire to learn. A good understanding of biology and chemistry will provide the basis for building your knowledge in pharmacology. An interest in communication and team-working will help you to participate in the course and subsequently be successful in the scientific workplace.

As a guide your personal statement should tell us:

• what interests you about pharmacology and what extra activities you have undertaken to support your interest in pharmacology or science in general

• we are also interested in hearing about extra-curricular activities that have developed your team-working and communication skills and show how you can take initiative.

• we also expect you to demonstrate awareness of current issues in pharmacology and science.

Please remember that your personal statement should focus on the subjects of pharmacology and science.

This module will look at latest advances in therapeutics through the lens of the clinical pharmacology themes studied in years 1 and 2.

Students will select a research topic relating to some aspect of pharmacology. They will use the scientific literature to establish what is already known on the subject. They will develop a research question or hypothesis based on their findings and will design a study to investigate their hypothesis. They will write this up as a funding proposal for assessment. Projects may focus on laboratory or clinical science as they relate to pharmacology. Students should select one laboratory-focussed and one clinical-focussed topics for their two research projects (years 2 and 3).

In this advanced module students will be taught basic computer techniques to ‘model’ pharmacokinetic processes from human data and learn to interpret these models. These techniques are used in drug development to help select the right dose of the drug.

In this advanced module students will develop more advanced knowledge and skills in clinical trials and drug development. They will learn about novel trial designs, trials using high risk drugs (e.g. for cancer), trials using novel therapies (e.g. nanomedicine, gene therapy) and how drugs are tested in children and pregnant women.

In this advanced module students will learn more about how drugs are regulated and how organisations such as the national institute for healthcare excellence (NICE) and the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) influence the use of medicines. Students will learn how to pull lots of research studies together (systematic review) and how to interpret data from these big reviews (metaanalysis).

We will use a variety of teaching and learning approaches to help you develop your knowledge and skills:

• Hubs: In small tutor groups, you will explore your understanding of each week’s learning and develop your team working and presentation skills.
• Interactive lectures: you will learn core information and key concepts and have the opportunity to test your understanding and ask questions.
• Practical classes: you will learn clinical and laboratory research skills in weekly practical classes.
• Computer workshops: each week you will work with data, some of which you will generate yourself in practical classes and through projects. You will learn how to use data to answer questions and how to do statistical analysis.
• Workshops: These will use a combination of talks and team working to study key topics in more detail.
• Drug-based learning: You will be set problems including clinical cases and research questions and find solutions to these in small groups.

Learning will be supported by excellent online course material and a strong teaching faculty. You will have a regular hub tutor to support your learning needs and a personal tutor for general support.

How is the course planned and assessed?

The topics and skills are revisited several times over the three years of the course with increasing complexity to build your understanding and capabilities.

Year 1

This will give you a good introduction to and overview of each topic and a strong grounding in the skills you will need. You will be assessed by in-course quizzes, an end of year exam and the first stage of your skills portfolio.

Year 2

For the first half of the year you will study topics in more depth and build your skills, ending with an end of semester exam. For the second half of the year you will do a practical research project, build your workplace skills and spend time with employers. You will continue to develop your skills portfolio.

Professional year

There will be an option for a professional year between years 2 and 3 to develop your experience and CV.

Year 3

A ‘hot topics’ module about cutting edge drug developments, such as biological drugs, nanotechnology and gene therapy, and a written research project are compulsory. Otherwise you will choose modules that interest you and support your career plans. All year 3 modules are assessed by incourse assessment and exams. You will complete your portfolio and graduate with a skills certificate that demonstrates your competence to employers.

Clinical Pharmacology course co-directors are Professor Emma Baker, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, and Professor Iain Greenwood, Professor of Vascular Pharmacology.

Professor Baker is currently the Clinical Vice-President of the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) and is a member of the Clinical Pharmacology Skills Alliance. She is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has received many student-selected teaching awards.

Professor Greenwood was the inaugural recipient of the BPS Zaimis prize in 2017 for sustained commitment to the teaching of pharmacology at an outstanding level.

Other key course faculty include Dr Mark Preece, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology, Dr Lila Mayahi, Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology, Dr Dan Burrage, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology and Dr Chris Threapleton, Specialist Registrar in Clinical Pharmacology.

During the first two years of the course, you will learn about all areas of clinical pharmacology and identify areas that you find interesting. You will hear from experts working in industry, healthcare, academia and regulation and undertake short placements in each area. In year 3, you will be able to study one or two topics of clinical pharmacology in more depth, developing advanced knowledge and skills in areas you hope to work in in your future career. There will also be an option for you to undertake a professional year between years 2 and 3 to gain direct experience of working in industry, healthcare, academia or regulation.

The course will help you develop skills required for employment in the science sector. By the end of the course you will be confident at giving verbal presentations and will be able to write clearly in a scientific style. In particular you will be able to explain complicated ideas simply to non-specialist audiences and be able to make persuasive arguments. You will be able to write all sorts of scientific documents and will have practical skills in doing research in humans and in the laboratory. You will be able to collect data from human and laboratory experiments and enter it into a spreadsheet accurately and perform and report statistical analysis of that data. You will be able to do a critical review of scientific papers of different types. Throughout the course, you will collect evidence of competence in all these areas in a portfolio that you will be able to show to future employers.

Each student has a personal tutor to provide support and advice around career development. A careers programme will support you throughout the course, with workshops on topics such as writing a CV and developing interview skills. You will also be able to book a one-to-one appointment with the St George’s Careers Consultant to discuss all aspects of careers and employability. This might include investigating options and making career decisions, gaining advice and guidance on where to look for jobs, CV and application checking, or booking in for a practice interview. 

The existing learning outcomes for our modules and courses will remain in place. From September to December 2020 all students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas. Hands-on practical teaching and learning activities will be delivered on campus with appropriate social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location.

The online components of the course will be designed to balance interactive real-time sessions with lecturers and other students, with self-paced independent study. Students will have clear learning pathways through the activities they are expected to engage with, and there will be opportunities to check learning and progress.

Personal tutor support and all other student support, such as the Academic Success Centre, will also be online for this period, using a range of methods for staying in touch, such as telephone, email and the University’s web conferencing systems BigBlueButton and MSTeams.

Pending Health Education England (HEE) approval, placements are currently expected to resume from September 2020 with minimum changes to planned delivery or timings. All students on placement will be expected to undertake a risk assessment and adhere to local Trust working patterns and guidance.  

To get the most from online study, hardware requirements have been established and communicated to all existing students and offer holders. Students will need their own personal computer or laptop and an internet connection in their place of accommodation. This needs to be in place at the start of the course. Once enrolled, students will have the ability to use Office 365 as part of our institutional licence, and access software required for their modules/courses via AppsAnywhere. In addition, we offer Office for Mac via Ofice365, but only the following applications are available for Mac: Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote. Web-based Office applications are available on Mac. Full details are available here. There is a provision for students who may struggle to meet the hardware requirements to contact our IT Hardship team.

The Clinical Pharmacology degree will use a hybrid delivery system involving both remote and face-to-face teaching. The course team has already adapted to this type of delivery for the last five weeks of the previous academic year.

Lectures and workshops will be delivered online as pre-recorded sessions, with two small group sessions run ‘live’ at the beginning and the end of the week. In addition, you will come to the campus to take part in laboratory practicals and clinical skills sessions. These will be operated with appropriate social distancing measures in line with government recommendations.

The sessions at St George’s will run on Mondays throughout the semester. We intend to hold a lab practical in the morning and clinical skills in the afternoon, to minimise your need to use public transport. You will also take part in a presentation skills workshop run by an external facilitator on campus.

We have designed this blend of online learning that can be done at your leisure, live small group sessions done online and physical attendance at St George’s, plus student discussion boards and Q&A, to optimise your experience in these strained times.

The existing learning outcomes for our modules and courses will remain in place. From September to December 2020 all students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas. Hands-on practical teaching and learning activities will be delivered on campus with appropriate social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location.

The online components of the course will be designed to balance interactive real-time sessions with lecturers and other students, with self-paced independent study. Students will have clear learning pathways through the activities they are expected to engage with, and there will be opportunities to check learning and progress.

Personal tutor support and all other student support, such as the Academic Success Centre, will also be online for this period, using a range of methods for staying in touch, such as telephone, email and the University’s web conferencing systems BigBlueButton and MSTeams.

Pending Health Education England (HEE) approval, placements are currently expected to resume from September 2020 with minimum changes to planned delivery or timings. All students on placement will be expected to undertake a risk assessment and adhere to local Trust working patterns and guidance.  

To get the most from online study, hardware requirements have been established and communicated to all existing students and offer holders. Students will need their own personal computer or laptop and an internet connection in their place of accommodation. This needs to be in place at the start of the course. Once enrolled, students will have the ability to use Office 365 as part of our institutional licence, and access software required for their modules/courses via AppsAnywhere. In addition, we offer Office for Mac via Ofice365, but only the following applications are available for Mac: Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote. Web-based Office applications are available on Mac. Full details are available here. There is a provision for students who may struggle to meet the hardware requirements to contact our IT Hardship team.

You will have become used to online delivery of lectures, workshops and small groups in your first year. For year 2 the online activities you experienced in year 1 will continue, but you will come on to the campus for practicals and clinical skills sessions. These will be organised with appropriate social distancing and hand-washing measures. In the second semester (from March) you will do a research project for six weeks, followed by industrial experience. Covid-19 considerations are being built into these activities.

Exams will be developed as open-book questions, and you will be given plenty of formative experience throughout the first semester of year 2.

We are expecting to deliver the course within the planned timescales, and for students to progress and graduate without delay.

Although some assessments are designed to be taken on site, we have developed an alternative strategy allowing assessments to be completed remotely without coming on to campus.

However, this programme does include practical elements that are delivered in laboratories, clinical cubicles and in our Dissection Room. These will run as planned in 2020/21 with appropriate social distancing measures in place. 

There is a possibility that government advice on social distancing may change. If that is the case, we will endeavour to delay practical components of the programme to a subsequent semester (or year) to protect the safety of our students.

We are planning to deliver the course within the planned timescales, and for students to progress and graduate without delay.

Although some assessments are designed to be taken on site, we have developed an alternative strategy allowing assessments to be completed remotely without coming on to campus.

However, this programme does include a research project, which may be delivered in laboratories. This will run as planned in 2020/21 with appropriate social distancing measures in place. Our capacity to do so may change if government guidelines change. However, we will strive to ensure that alternative arrangements are in place to enable you to complete on schedule, including the use of previously acquired data from supervisors or data banks.

We are currently intending to put all students into a workplace experience for five weeks in May 2021. This will occur only if the company completes a risk assessment and can assure effective social distancing. Our ability to obtain placements may be affected by Covid-19 and we have contingency plans involving seminars from different company employees to provide industrial experience. We do not intend to delay placements if we can avoid it, as this could impact on students’ ability to complete the course and graduate on schedule. 

We do not expect students to incur any extra costs over and above those that we have advertised on the course page.

As a result of our courses beginning with the majority of teaching online, you will need a personal laptop or computer and access to the internet to participate in online lectures. Information is available on recommended device specification. If you are worried you might struggle to meet these requirements, you should email IThardship@sgul.ac.uk so we can look at support options for you.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you if needed.

We do not expect students to incur any extra costs over and above the normal level, as previously advertised on the course page.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you if needed.

We assess the knowledge, skills and attributes of our students in a variety of ways. One method that was deemed very successful by the previous cohort is a weekly quiz on the past week’s learning material, held in a small group session with your personal tutor and about eight other students. These cover all six modules and provide the majority of the in-course assessment.

There will also be other forms of in course assessment that will assess the your ability to handle numbers and apply statistical analysis. The course involves a lot of peer review (students rating their colleagues), and this makes your development and progress more manageable.

At the end of the Christmas and Easter terms there is a larger quiz in the same format as the weekly ones. This reinforces your understanding and builds confidence.

All formal written examinations take place in June. At this stage, we expect to deliver these assessments as planned. Although some assessments are designed to be taken on site, St George’s successfully developed an alternative assessment strategy in 2019/20 to enable students to complete assessments remotely and without coming on to campus. Regardless of the assessment format, all students will receive considerable practice at exam questions so they feel comfortable undertaking these assignments.

You will already be used to the weekly quizzes and end of term ‘big quizzes’. These will continue throughout the first semester of Year 2. At the end of the semester, you will sit exam papers either on-site or via online methods. As the exam format will be new to you, you will receive plenty of formative exercises to get familiar with the question type and how to answer exam questions effectively.

In the second semester of year 2, you will do a research project that will assessed by writing a project outline and a short research paper. Neither will be affected by the adaptions to Covid-19. The final assessment will be an oral PowerPoint presentation. Currently, we expect this to be delivered on site. If there is a second Covid-19 wave and government advice changes, we will use appropriate online methods.

The first year of the degree does not contribute to the final degree class, so any Covid-19 changes will not affect your degree classification.

The BSc Clinical Pharmacology programme is not accredited and so any changes that we are making will have no bearing on the qualification.

We do not expect any changes to the programme will affect any student’s final degree classification.

The BSc Clinical Pharmacology programme is not accredited and so the changes that we are making will have no bearing on the qualification.

All face-to-face teaching will take place at St George’s, University of London, on the campus that we share with St George’s Hospital in Tooting, with appropriate social distancing measures in place. We have not explored alternative locations for teaching and have no immediate plans to do so. If government advice on social distancing changes, we will consider ways in which we can deliver teaching on site in a manner that is safe for students and staff.

All face-to-face teaching will take place at St George’s, University of London, on the campus that we share with St George’s Hospital in Tooting, with appropriate social distancing measures in place. We have not explored alternative locations for teaching and have no immediate plans to do so. If government advice on social distancing changes, we will consider ways in which we can deliver teaching on site in a manner that is safe for students and staff.

For the industrial placements, providers will undertake an appropriate risk assessment and you will be allocated a position depending upon a combination of personal circumstances and career aspirations.

The changes that we are making are the consequence of current public health advice, and our capacity to offer alternatives is limited by that advice. If you wish to avoid these changes by deferring your offer please contact admissions@sgul.ac.uk.

The changes that we are making are the consequence of current public health advice, and our capacity to offer alternatives is limited by that advice. You will be required to consent to these changes as part of your re-enrolment. If you wish to avoid these changes (e.g. by taking a year out from your studies) please discuss this directly with your course team in the first instance. We remain, as always, focused on the best experience and outcomes for our students.