Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)

PharmD Program Details

• Why KGI’s PharmD program

  KGI has built upon its leadership by leveraging close biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry ties with strengths in computational sciences and entrepreneurship to create a Doctor of Pharmacy program unlike any other. Required and optional industry experiential education provides students with a breadth of hands-on training designed to enhance their skills and knowledge, while increasing their competitiveness in the job market.

• PharmD Curriculum

  The PharmD curriculum ensures a clear and defined focus on the diverse set of skills needed for the evolving range of opportunities in pharmacy. Students take courses that provide them with foundational content, exposure to emerging topics, as well as elective courses and rotations within the certificate program. Generally, the overall curriculum is arranged into four categories: basic sciences, clinical skills, professional development, and experiential education.

  KGI’s integrated curriculum combines the foundational science content with the clinical and therapeutic content for each disease state and organ system. For example, when the students are studying Cardiology, in the morning they learn about the pathophysiology of a particular disease and then they study the drugs to treat that disease and the chemistry and mechanism of the drugs. That same day, clinical faculty talk to the students about how to use the drugs safely and effectively in various patient populations. In this way, the basic science topics serve as the foundation upon which the clinical topics are built.

• Connections to Industry

  “Pharmacy” is a loaded term. There’s more than one type of pharmacist. Within the profession, you’ll find positions such as:

  • Ambulatory care pharmacy
  • Clinical pharmacy
  • Compounding pharmacy
  • Home care (infusion) pharmacy
  • Hospital pharmacy
  • Regulatory pharmacy

  For KGI PharmD graduates, career opportunities extend beyond retail pharmacy. While the majority of the Class of 2019 entered the pharmacy profession, another substantial group—18 percent—entered fellowships or jobs within the pharmaceutical industry.

  How does KGI’s PharmD program introduce students to industry? A wide range of networking and coursework opportunities, including:

  • Introduction to Industry course required for all first-year students
  • Certificate in Medical and Clinical Affairs option, which includes elective courses related to industry and experiential education rotations in industry
  • Industry speakers visiting campus in-person or virtually each year
  • Student organizations, including the Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO). KGI’s IPhO student chapter was the first IPhO student organization in Southern California.
  • KGI Fellowship Program
• Certificates / PharmD+

  Along with a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree, KGI graduates receive a certificate in one of three main areas:

  • Healthcare Management/Pharmacy Informatics (HCM/PI)
  • Medical and Clinical Affairs (MCA)
  • Medication Therapy Outcomes (MTO)
• Accelerated Program

  The pathway is an accelerated six-year comprehensive PharmD degree, with the first two years at community college (providing students take all required coursework on time) and the remaining four as a student in KGI’s School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.