(285) Development of Six New Concentrations at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Pharmacy (COP)

Objective : To provide a greater number of students with increased opportunities to engage in focused study and research. The six new areas of concentration are designed to complement the COP’s extensive educational offerings and to help position students competitively for residencies, fellowships, graduate degree programs, or employment after graduation.

Methods: The PharmD program currently has two optional concentrations in rural and urban pharmacy services. The addition of the six new concentrations provides students with additional opportunities to engage in focused study and research in key areas of modern pharmaceutical sciences, health economics and outcomes research, and pharmacy practice. Students who successfully complete concentrations will demonstrate academic, research, and practical expertise in their area of concentration.

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy each offer one concentration (Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Health Economics and Outcomes Research, respectively). The Department of Pharmacy Practice offers 4 concentrations (Acute Care Pharmacy, Ambulatory Care Pharmacy, Experimental Therapeutics and Clinical Research, and Administration and Leadership). Each concentration requires 9 didactic elective credit hours and 4 experiential credit hours. No new credit hours are required for graduation with a concentration. Five new required electives that focus on research and academic experience with faculty mentors in the concentrations are offered. Successful completion of a concentration is included in the student’s official transcript.

Results: The first cohort of Concentration students will start in the Fall 2023 P2 class. Application and admission data will be presented.

Conclusions: Initial interest in the new areas of concentration is high based on the number of visits to a newly developed website and the number of questions that have been submitted to the Concentration Leaders.