Pharmacy

Successful completion of the MPharm degree allows the student to apply for entry to a 12-month pre-registration training period in community, hospital or industrial settings or a combination of these. At the end of this recognised training period you will need to pass a professional competency examination under the auspices of the GPhC, prior to registration as a pharmacist. The vocational nature of the degree, combined with the permanent demand for qualified healthcare professionals both in the UK and abroad, means that there is nearly full graduate employment for all MPharm graduates. The career and salary prospects are attractive, as are the opportunities for part-time and locum work. Almost all pharmacy graduates undertake the year’s pre-registration training; the majority in community practice (60 per cent) or hospitals (about 20 per cent), with the remainder employed in industry or postgraduate studies. There are opportunities at King’s and other academic institutions to continue your studies at postgraduate level, if you are interested in a career in research.

King’s MPharm programme has been designed to integrate the teaching of fundamental science with the practice of pharmacy, with interdisciplinary teaching from other departments (predominantly Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Physiology) and outside experts from industry and hospital pharmacies.

Some of the unique features are the professional modules that run throughout all four years of the degree, starting with a two-week overview of pharmacy as a profession. These modules also seek to develop your transferable skills from the outset. The first-year continues with two-semester modules which cover the principles of pharmaceutical science and practice. Years two and three form a four-semester theme of pharmacy and therapeutics. The aim is to provide integrated teaching across the pharmaceutical and scientific disciplines, with six therapeutic themes (Endocrine System & Cancer, Nervous System, Respiratory & Musculoskeletal Systems, Infection & Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Cardiovascular & Renal Systems, Gastrointestinal System & Skin), two non-therapeutic modules (Formulation & Analysis of Drugs and Medicines Discovery & Development), which train students in the disciplines of pharmaceutics, analysis and medicine design, and one professional module which includes law and ethics, all fundamental to the profession of pharmacy. In the final year, modules are arranged around the theme of Pharmacy into Practice. You may choose from a range of specialist elective modules (eg Chemical Mediators & Disease, Drug Delivery & Industrial Pharmacy, Drug Toxicity, Emerging Therapeutics & Modern Medicine, Applied Clinical Practice), and you must complete a research project and the Preparation for Practice module. Successful students are awarded the MPharm degree which allows you to apply for a pre-registration place. You must complete a four-year degree and successfully pass the pre-registration training before you can register and practise as a pharmacist in the UK.

The Department of Pharmacy is located on one floor of the purpose-designed Franklin-Wilkins Building at the Waterloo Campus, which includes an extensive library and easy computer access. Our Drug Control Centre is the only World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratory in the UK and is playing a key role in the 2012 Olympics anti-doping screening programme. King’s also incorporates three major teaching hospitals (Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’) that provide a unique training resource for our students.