Educational and Training Programs - Center for Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine

The primary objective of this course is to educate medical students to apply the principles of clinical pharmacology and rational pharmacotherapy to clinical practice and to develop the skills and attitudes needed to avoid irrational prescribing. Dr. Stevan Tofovic serves as Course Director of this intensive 4-week selective. Ms. Lois Toman is Course Coordinator. The course involves a variety of learning formats, including lectures, four workshops, problem-based learning sessions (PBLs), quizzes, and computer-assisted learning. Eleven one-day PBL=s that are drug-, patient-, and disease-oriented emphasize pharmacotherapy of diseases most commonly seen in medical practice. Course content and format include general criteria for drug selection and formal and practical aspects of drug prescribing. The majority of teaching for this course is provided by faculty from the Center for Clinical Pharmacology and the Department of Medicine. Currently the class is limited to 54 students.

Contact Information
Stevan Tofovic MD, PhD
(412) 648-3363
tofovic@dom.pitt.edu
Center for Clinical Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh, 100 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Clinical Research Training

The Clinical Research Scholars Program (CRSP) is a multidisciplinary career development program that is supported by the National Institutes of Health Road Map Initiative through the K12 mechanism.

This program prepares scientists from a broad range of disciplines, specialties, and subspecialties for independent careers in clinical research. This program brings together the collaborative efforts of the Health Science Schools of Dental Medicine, Health and Rehabilition Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Public Health, the many multidisciplinary research centers at the University of Pittsburgh, and the extensive clinical entities that comprise the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

The Scholars engage in diverse types of multidisciplinary clinical research, including large and small clinical trials, patient-oriented research, epidemiologic studies, health services research, and translational research. Every Scholar has the opportunity to pursue educational offerings pertaining to best practices in clinical research, research ethics and regulations, working in multidisciplinary teams, and management and leadership skills. Mentoring is an integrated component of this program and is provided by a team of highly experienced, federally funded senior investigators.

Contact Information
Dr. Robert Branch
Professor of Medicine & Pharmacology
(412) 383.7824
branch@dom.pitt.edu
Center for Clinical Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh, 100 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219