IUPHAR Clinical Pharmacology Mentoring Program
There is a pressing need to improve and optimize the use of medicines to maximize their effectiveness and minimize their harms. This can best be achieved by expanding the influence of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) expertise around the world, especially in developing areas of the world. All countries face challenges over using medicines effectively, safely and cost effectively and CPT knowledge and skills are a key part of that strategy.
These objectives are consistent with and support various WHO initiatives including the Essential Medicines List and also the joint IUPHAR/WHO publication Clinical Pharmacology in Health Care, Teaching and Research (2012).
An important part of this strategy will be capacity building and this,in turn, will depend on centers that are willing to support, mentor or train future generations with skills to undertake CPT research and teaching, and to serve on governmental organizations involved in regulation and health technology assessment.
One approach is to identify a list of high performing and recognised CPT departments that are willing and able to mentor newly established departments or those in developing areas. The Clinical Division of IUPHAR has resolved to undertake a pilot program to establish the demand for and value of such a strategy.
The roles of the listed mentor departments might range from basic email contact and advice through to collaborative research and researcher exchange. This might include:
- answering emails about matters such as training programs, curricular organization, regulation of research etc.
- offering videoconferencing.
- establishing some collaborative research in areas of mutual interest.
- hosting researchers for periods of experience.
Mentoring Centers of CPT Expertise
The Clinical Division of IUPHAR has identified several CPT Centers with expertise in specific areas of clinical pharmacology that are willing to provide mentorship and advice to developing clinical pharmacologists and centers. These are listed below along with the contact details for each center. Click onto the City name to open the PDF file with details about the expertise offered and contact details.