Establishing a clinical pharmacology fellowship program for physicians, pharmacists, and pharmacologists: a newly accredited interdisciplinary training program at the Ohio State University

Abstract

Studying the effect of drugs on humans, clinical pharmacologists play an essential role in many academic medical and research teams, within the pharmaceutical industry and as members of government regulatory entities. Clinical pharmacology fellowship training programs should be multidisciplinary and adaptable, and should combine didactics, applied learning, independent study, and one-on-one instruction. This article describes a recently developed 2 year clinical pharmacology fellowship program – one of only nine accredited by the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology – that is an integrative, multi faceted, adaptable method for training physicians, pharmacists, and scientists for leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry, in academia, or with regulatory or accreditation agencies. The purpose of this article is to provide information for academic clinicians and researchers interested in designing a similar program, for professionals in the field of clinical pharmacology who are already affiliated with a fellowship program and may benefit from supplemental information, and for clinical researchers interested in clinical pharmacology who may not be aware that such training opportunities exist. This article provides the details of a recently accredited program, including design, implementation, accreditation, trainee success, and future directions.

Keywords:

• clinical pharmacology education
• clinical pharmacology fellowship

Acknowledgments

The authors express gratitude to Eduard Mikulik, MD for his assistance in the instruction provided in our clinical pharmacology fellowship training program. Funding provided by the National Institutes of Health K23 GM100372 helped to support the development of this manuscript.

Disclosure

The authors have no disclosures or conflicts of interest to declare.