(121b) Drug Development and Pharmacology As an Upper-Level Elective for Engineering Pre-Med Students

One of the challenges in a Chemical Engineering program is the development of a pre-med curriculum that must integrate well into the traditional chemical engineering curricula while still preparing the pre-med students with the necessary foundation for successful outcomes in medical schools. Most students who choose the pre-med track in a chemical engineering department are 1) either uncertain about pursuing a career between chemical engineering or medical field, and would like to learn more before committing to one, 2) they enjoy engineering approaches over basic sciences such as biology, and believe that the problem solving skills and technology savviness developed in an engineering department will differentiate them among their peers in the medical school environment, or 3) would like to pursue an MD/PhD graduate program where they can simultaneously contribute to society on the bench side as PhD engineers as well as on the bed side as clinicians. Developing such a training program must take considerations that go well beyond the completion of bachelor’s studies for a chemical engineering degree while simultaneously meeting all criteria required for preparation and acceptance into medical schools. This challenge becomes most apparent during the identification and development of upper-level electives that can fulfill the tech elective criteria of the engineering department while providing students with the necessary foundation for medical schools. Here, the strategy to develop a course on Drug Development and Pharmacology will be described. The course stretches over several multidisciplinary topics including: 1) the drug development from discovery methods through clinical trials, 2) basic principles of pharmacology including ADME, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and drug metabolism, 3) dives deep into literature to discuss cutting edge research pursued by chemical and biological engineers in the field of rational drug design as well as biomolecular engineering solutions to circumvent pharmacology related problems.

DDP is offered as a one semester upper-level (senior/graduate-level) course at Notre Dame, so that both graduate students, who find it complementary to their PhD studies, and the pre-med undergraduate students can benefit from it. As for the prerequisites, typically, one organic chemistry, one basic biology course with an emphasis on cellular systems is adequate. The course is divided into 3 major modules where each covers a critical fundamental component of DDP followed by a relevant literature example of how engineers approach drug discovery and development and in designing solutions to issues relating to human health. The assessment of the students involves homework assignments, exams, literature presentations, and a final term project where the students work on teams on a topic of their interest.

This presentation outlines the approach used to develop a DDP course in a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department that meets the tech elective criteria while at the same time provide the pre-med engineering students with a foundation in drug development process and pharmacology to help them succeed in medical school. This class has been proven to be very beneficial for not only the pre-med students, but also for those interested in pursuing a career in pharmaceutical industry, medical device companies, medical or pharma arm of consulting firms, as well as those planning of pursuing a PhD in a Biological Engineering related field. In the past 8 years this class has been offered, it has received very favorable feedback particularly from the recent graduates in graduate or medical schools who wanted to make a point in reaching out to us to let us know about their appreciation as the teachings significantly benefited them during their ongoing studies.