Doctor of Medicine (Pharmacology)
The Department’s mission is to enhance the stature of the School and of SU by combining high quality teaching with internationally recognized research.
Currently, research in the Department focuses on, (i) neuropsychopharmacology (ii) the pharmacology of inflammation (iii) pharmaco-epidemiology including pharmacovigilance. Department is well equipped with facilities, which permit the investigation of drug action. The departmental faculty have published their research work in peer-reviewed indexed journals and made presentations of the same, at various international and national conferences.
The Department has adequate no. of academic staff. The faculty includes members who have worked at the prestigious academic institutions.
The Department of Pharmacology is presently conducting teaching of undergraduate MBBS students, utilizing innovative Problem-Based Learning methodologies based on Evidence Based Education. The department plans to offer MD in Pharmacology, MSc & PhD Postgraduate courses in near future.
UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING
Pharmacology, as a discipline, is a dynamic interface of various pre-clinical, para-clinical and clinical medical disciplines. Being a bridging subject, its mastery is crucial for a successful career in medicine.
The teaching of undergraduates has undergone a significant change in recent years, which we have incorporated in our pharmacology curriculum. Several topics of Clinical Pharmacology have been introduced in the form of lectures/group discussions/tutorials, student seminars & integrated with other disciplines.
Greater emphasis is placed on tutorials/group discussions on rational prescribing, prescription-writing skills, therapeutic problem-solving, prescription audit, drug interaction exercises and ADR monitoring.
Animal experimentation has been replaced with Computer-Simulated Exercises.
Spacious, well-ventilated dissection hall in which 150 students can be accommodated. Attached to the dissection hall are the rooms for embalming, storage tanks for the preservation of the cadavers, two cooling cabinets for storage of 12 cadavers and two ante-rooms for students. Well preserved specimens of all parts of the human body are available to the students in the anatomy museum. Articulated skeletons and individual bones are also made accessible to the students during working hours. The dissection hall is well equipped with anthropometric instruments, X-ray view boxes and instruments essential for preservation of cadavers and preparation of anatomical specimens e.g. embalming machines, band saw etc.
The museum displays region wise well mounted dissected specimens, bones, skeletons, and embryology amp;amp; gross anatomy models. Catalogues with labeled pictures and brief description of mounted gross anatomy specimens are available to the students for reference. Radiology section displays plain, special radiographs of various regions of the body, CT scans amp;amp; MRI. The department has a fully equipped histology laboratory which can accommodate 75 students at a time. The students are provided with individual microscopes and slides during routine practical classes. A binocular microscope with CCTV attachment for the projection of slides on the TV is also available for teaching. Colored printouts of labeled microanatomy sections of various tissues are displayed for reference during the routine practical sessions. A preparation room equipped with tissue processing instruments for preparing slides is attached to the histology laboratory.
The departmental library consists of an excellent collection of latest books in gross anatomy, histology, embryology, neuroanatomy, genetics and radiology. Books on clinical subjects are also available to facilitate the learning of clinical anatomy. Two demonstration rooms which can accommodate 75 students each are well equipped with modern audio-visual aids like LCD projector, overhead projector and visualiser. Department has sufficient facilities for conducting research in osteology, histology and gross anatomy. Histology research lab and a central research lab facility are also available to carry out research projects .Department is activily involved in research activities and has published more than 20 research articles in various national/international Journals in last 3 years.