The Department of Pharmacy at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Malta is hosting the Annual Pharmacy Symposium between the 6 and 10 March 2017. The Symposium is being held at the Aula Magna, University of Malta Valletta Campus. During the symposium, students following courses within the Department of Pharmacy present their research project and share the findings with colleagues and stakeholders.
This year's Symposium marks a number of significant milestones which are worth reflecting upon. It is the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the concept of a pharmacy practice research project in the undergraduate pharmacy course. The first projects in the areas of formulations of medicines, drug interactions and pharmaceutical analysis of drugs of abuse were presented in 1977 by final year pharmacy students. With the introduction of a research project in pharmacy undergraduate education, the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Malta became a pioneer of incorporating research skills within the pharmacy curriculum. Over these 40 years, 1073 research projects were presented by students completing a degree in pharmacy.
Participants at the Science Lecture Theatre, University of Malta at one of the earliest Annual Pharmacy Symposia organized by the Department of Pharmacy
The model of the pharmacy practice project within the Department evolved over these years to the level where each student runs a personally-directed project under the guidance of an academic member of staff and in collaboration with pharmaceutical industry, government pharmaceutical entities and private pharmaceutical services. The developed model relies on guidance documents that are available for the students and on the introduction of this teaching activity from the second year of the pharmacy course. Within the model, students develop different skills for dissemination of research findings such as preparing posters, presentations and scientific journal articles. The experience from this model of teaching and the excellence achieved was shared at European and international pharmacy education fora and the model has been adopted within schools of pharmacy in Europe and beyond.
Annual Pharmacy Symposium 1998, final year pharmacy students with Professor Sam Salek, University of Cardiff, UK, visiting examiner and Professor Anthony Serracino-Inglott, Head of Department of Pharmacy at the time.
As this model for the pharmacy practice project evolved, the Department was also developing the undergraduate pharmacy education to the highest levels of excellence within the European pharmacy education directive, culminating in the conferment of a Master of Pharmacy degree as an entry level degree into the profession. This year marks the fifth anniversary since the conferment of the Master of Pharmacy degree.
With the development of pharmaceutical industry and services in Malta, the need for graduates specialised in pharmaceutical technology aspects while ensuring quality and safety of medications became apparent. This prompted the Department to champion the elaboration of a new academic programme leading to a Bachelor degree in Pharmaceutical Technology. A characteristic feature of this course is the practice-oriented academic led placements in the pharmaceutical settings which ensure that graduates achieve a skill set that is relevant to aspects of medication safety, pharmaceutical regulatory sciences and quality assessment. This year marks the 3rd anniversary of having students following the pharmaceutical technology course presenting their student projects at the Symposium.
The Doctorate in Pharmacy 2017 final year students together with Professor Jennifer T. Pham and Professor Christina Haaf Mactal, faculty from the University of Illinois
A momentous milestone which is achieved in this year's Symposium is the presentation of research dissertations by the first group of 17 pharmacists who are in their final year of the Doctorate in Pharmacy course. The Doctorate in Pharmacy course is a three year post-graduate programme offered in collaboration with the College of Pharmacy of the University of Illinois at Chicago. The doctorate in pharmacy dissertations presented at this year's Symposium cover a wide range of aspects from an evaluation of pharmaceutical services aimed to maximise patient benefit from use of medications to assessment of innovative aspects in drug therapy. Examples of topics presented include the safe use of glucagon by diabetic patients, safety in the use of non-prescription medicines, use of digoxin and warfarin, efficacy and safety of biosimilar drugs, and regulation of stem cell therapy.
During the Symposium second and third year students following the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Science degree present their work-in-progress pharmacy practice project as a poster. The final year students of the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Science and the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Technology present their projects during an oral presentation. The postgraduate students following the Master of Pharmacy, the Master of Science (Pharmacy) and the Doctorate in Pharmacy courses present their dissertation findings as an oral presentation. The programme of the Annual Pharmacy Symposium is available at www.um.edu.mt/ms/pharmacy/activities/symposium
Professor Azzopardi is the Head of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Malta and President of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy