Pharmacy

The concept of the program

Studies of Pharmacy include a wide variety of Natural Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Physiology is taught as well as Molecular and Cell Biology, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology and Clinical Pharmacy. Pharmaceutical Biology covers the broad field of Biology, because a profound knowledge of cellular, biochemical and molecular mechanisms is needed to understand the action of drugs and calculate potential adverse side effects. Pharmaceutical Technology has a unique status in Heidelberg. Both the technical and scientific parts as well as the medical and pharmacological issues are taught in equal parts. Pharmaceutical Chemistry covers the synthesis as well as instrumental and chemical analytics of drugs and is one of the main parts of the studies of Pharmacy. Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy offer a broad knowledge about the therapeutic properties of drugs as well as about human pharmacokinetics.

The scientific structure 

This Pharmacy program is based at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology (IPMB), a modern and interdisciplinary center of drug design in cooperation with various medical research institutions. In Germany, the pharmaceutical education with the final grade of “Approbation” is reglemented by the “Approbationsordnung für Apotheker”. Heidelberg is the first university in Germany which does not conduct the the first “Staatsexamen” as a centralized exam but instead as cumulated exams during the first two years of university education. After the first “Staatsexamen” the advanced study period starts, deepening the knowledge of pharmaceutical sciences and adjacent medical fields. The oral examination of the second “Staatsexamen” in the five main pharmaceutical topics is the end of the university studies. After this, students undergo a 12-month practical education in a Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Industry. The third “Staatsexamen” is the final examination leading to the degree “Apotheker”.