Dr Bugewa Apampa, Director of Pharmacy Development

The University of Sussex is to offer degrees in pharmacy. 

The new four-year undergraduate degree builds on Sussex’s expertise in discovering new drugs and medicines and harnesses its research strengths in cancer and neurosciences. 

With an innovative focus on the patient-care aspects of the profession, the new degree will start at the University from 2016. 

Students will graduate with a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree - the only qualification in the UK that leads to professional registration as a pharmacist. 

Full course details have been published for the first time in Sussex’s 2016-17 undergraduate prospectus, available in print and online. 

Successful applicants will develop a wide range of knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for modern pharmacy practice.  They will learn how to integrate biological, pharmaceutical, chemical, behavioural and social sciences within a legal and ethical framework that governs the sale and supply of medicines, and provide pharmaceutical care to patients and optimise their drug therapies.

The new course in the School of Life Sciences complements teaching and research in a number of existing academic areas at the University, including: the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), neuroscience, chemistry, psychology, the Genome Damage and Stability Centre and the Translational Drug Discovery Group (who are working to understand disease and molecules in order to facilitate the development of new medicines).

Dr Bugewa Apampa,  Director of Pharmacy Development at Sussex, said: “Pharmacists already contribute to the management of common illnesses and long-term conditions and are increasingly helping to meet the demand for urgent and emergency care services, which are commonly centred on the use of medicines. 

“Our pharmacy students will develop an expertise in the use of medicines, demonstrating a philosophy of high-quality clinical pharmacy practice that is securely centred on pharmaceutical care and, ultimately, taking responsibility for the safe, appropriate and effective use of medicines in whichever career path they choose to follow.” 

Professor Clare Mackie, Pro Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) and herself a pharmacist, said:  “We are aiming to produce highly qualified practitioners with superb skills in applying pharmacy in research and clinical settings, who will form strong partnerships with other healthcare professionals and patients, to ensure innovative delivery of care and treatment to an increasingly ageing population.”

The Head of the School of Life Sciences, Professor Laurence Pearl, says: “We believe our considerable research strengths in cancer and neurosciences, and our commitment to translation of our discovery research into new medicines and treatments, allow us to develop a very distinctive pharmacy training.”

Notes for editors 

For more information about the course and qualification requirements, see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/ug/2016/4876/32618. 

University of Sussex Press Office:  James Hakner and Jacqui Bealing – press@sussex.ac.uk, 01273 678888.