Catalyst is a required one-week introductory course for first-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students. The course marks the beginning of students’ transition from admitted learners to emerging pharmacy professionals and introduces them to the academic, professional, and community expectations of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, the University of Toronto, and the pharmacy profession. Through interactive sessions, case-based workshops, reflective activities, and community-building experiences, students develop foundational skills in evidence-based learning, professionalism, communication, ethical decision-making, and patient care thinking within the context of an accelerated professional program. The course also introduces principles of programmatic assessment, academic integrity, appropriate use of artificial intelligence, wellness, and professional identity formation. More than an orientation course, Catalyst serves as the beginning of students’ professional journey and their entry into a collaborative professional community committed to learning, growth, and patient-centred care.

Foundations 1 is the first of a two-course series centered on developing the core knowledge in the basic, pharmaceutical, clinical and social sciences required for their roles as future health care professionals. Students will learn and apply the course content in the context of their professional roles of scientist, professional, care provider, communicator, collaborator, advocate, scholar, and leader. This course provides the foundation for understanding the pharmacist role in the health care system and explores professional identity.

This is the first in a series of courses which will provide students with the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively manage patients’ drug therapy. Throughout this series of courses, students will learn to integrate evidence-based research, collaborate with other disciplines, and prioritize patient centered care in their future practice.

In the first half of this block, students will explore the critical role of vaccines in reducing infectious diseases, examining the biological mechanisms behind immunity and addressing ethical considerations like equitable access and informed consent. Students will also explore musculoskeletal disorders, GERD, peptic ulcer disease, diarrhea, and constipation, emphasizing the importance of drug formulation, bioavailability, and drug interactions within the gastrointestinal tract. Students will learn how to develop individualized treatment plans, evaluate complementary and alternative medicines, and manage medication adverse effects to ensure safe, effective patient care.

The second half of the block will provide students with an introduction to dermatology (skin and mucous membrane) and eye, ear, nose and throat systems including a focus on the role of self-care and minor ailment prescribing in Ontario. The course will teach the pathophysiology of dermatological and EENT conditions, and related mechanisms of immunity, the importance of drug formulation and vehicles, bioavailability, and drug interactions within the skin and EENT systems.

This is the second in a series of courses which will provide students with the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively manage patients’ drug therapy. Throughout this series of courses, students will learn to integrate evidence-based research, collaborate with other disciplines, and prioritize patient centered care in their future practice.

This course will cover the most common conditions associated with the respiratory and cardiovascular system along with diabetes mellitus. An understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology will allow students to select the appropriate pharmacotherapy for an individual patient. The students will be able to integrate knowledge of foundational sciences (e.g, pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry and pharmacokinetics) and social sciences (adherence, health advocacy and social determinants of health) into the care of patients.

This is the third in a series of courses which will provide students with the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively manage patients’ drug therapy. Throughout this series of courses, students will learn to integrate evidence-based research, collaborate with other disciplines, and prioritize patient centered care in their future practice.

This course will cover People Centred Care Across the Lifespan. It is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage patient cases effectively and safely in topics including thyroid disorders, gender affirming hormone therapy, contraception, polycystic ovarian syndrome, menopause, pregnancy & lactation, osteoporosis and falls and frailty in older adults. Students will learn and apply expertise in physiology, pharmacology, and pharmacotherapy to meet diverse patient needs, ensuring effective and safe clinical decisions. Students will also critically evaluate and apply evidence-based practices. By the end of this course, you will be well-prepared to deliver respectful, individualized, and comprehensive healthcare that supports patient autonomy and fosters a collaborative approach to health across the lifespan. We look forward to helping you become compassionate, knowledgeable, and effective pharmacists.

This is the first of a series of six pharmacy skills and simulation focused courses where students will apply knowledge and develop skills needed to provide patient centred pharmacy care. Students will engage in guided, independent and collaborative learning experiences such as conducting patient interviews, gathering and interpreting health and medication histories, participating in prescription processing, responding to drug information queries, performing physical assessments, and evaluating appropriateness of drug therapy. Students will explore the ethical and legal dimensions of pharmacy practice, including responsible prescribing and decision making that prioritizes patient safety and fosters culturally competent care. Topics covered in this course will align with Applied Therapeutics 1.

This 8-week course is the second in a series of six pharmacy skills and simulation focused courses where students will apply knowledge and develop skills needed to provide patient-centred pharmacy care. Students will engage in guided, independent, and collaborative learning experiences such as conducting patient interviews, gathering and interpreting health and medication histories, performing physical assessments, and evaluating appropriateness of drug therapy. Students will engage with point of care testing (POCT) and interpret these results to assist in optimizing patient care. Demonstration and education of devices and medications commonly used in cardiovascular, respiratory, and diabetes monitoring and treatment will be a focus. Students are expected to continue to adhere to legal and ethical practices, demonstrating responsible decision making that prioritizes patient safety and fosters culturally competent care.

This 8-week course is the third in a series of six pharmacy skills and simulation focused courses where students will apply knowledge and develop skills needed to provide people-centred pharmacy care across the lifespan. Students will engage in guided, independent, and collaborative learning experiences such as gathering and interpreting heath and medication histories, performing medication reconciliation, and apply full scope of practice in Ontario. A focus is placed on communication with neutral language and compassion for all persons. Students are expected to provide care that is safe and adheres to all legal and ethical guidelines while
prioritizing patient autonomy.

Experiential Learning 1 is the first of two early experiential courses and consists of 160 hours in a community pharmacy practice site completed longitudinally one day per week during Year 1. Students will actively participate in day-to-day activities within a direct patient care community pharmacy practice setting, thus enabling application of knowledge, skills and values learned in faculty-based courses and simulated practice environments (Pharmacy Practice Skills & Simulation laboratories). Students will also participate in a debrief in in-class workshops after Applied Therapeutics courses to discuss their experiences and consolidate their learning with their peers.

Foundations 2 is the second course in the Foundations curriculum of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. This course advances students’ knowledge of the scientific, clinical, social, and managerial foundations of pharmacy practice, with emphasis on the pharmacist’s role within contemporary Canadian health systems. Students will examine concepts grounded in their role as care providers related to health equity, antiracism, health-system integration, leadership, advocacy, pharmacoeconomics, and building competencies introduced in Year 1.

Through integrated instruction in management sciences, health-system design, quality and safety, and applied pharmacotherapy, students develop the ability to analyze system-level contributors to medication-related outcomes, interpret operational and clinical data, and evaluate the impact of system structures on patient experience and continuity of care. The course further supports the development of professional identity and leadership capacity, including strategic planning, ethical decision-making, and collaboration across interprofessional teams.

This course is the second of two early experiential rotations. Students will undertake EPE-2 during the summer following Year 2 (sometime between May and August). Each student will actively participate in day-to-day services within an institutional pharmacy practice setting, thus enabling application of knowledge, skills and values introduced in faculty-based courses and simulated practice environments (laboratories). Required activities include prescription/medication order processing, patient education, drug information provision, medication history taking, and observation of/participation in patient safety processes in the practice setting. Students also need to demonstrate effective communication skills, professionalism and teamwork during the rotation.

This 12-week course is the first applied therapeutics course in the second year of the curriculum. Students will learn about common infectious diseases, urology conditions, and nephrology topics. An understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology will allow students to select the appropriate pharmacotherapy for an individual patient presenting with these diseases and conditions.

Applied Therapeutics 5: Neuropsychiatry focuses on the assessment and management of neurological, mental health, and substance use disorders through a biopsychosocial and equity-oriented lens. Students will build competency in pathobiology, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy, and clinical pharmacokinetics while also examining how stigma, trauma, social determinants of health, and systemic inequities influence illness experience, access to care, and treatment outcomes. Emphasis is placed on trauma-informed care, shared decision-making, measurement-based care, and the ethical complexities inherent in neuropsychiatric practice.

This course prepares pharmacy students to navigate the evolving landscape of cancer and immune-mediated disease management. With cancer now the leading cause of death in Canada—and with more patients living longer with the disease due to therapeutic advances—pharmacists are increasingly called upon to support patients across the cancer care continuum. Applied Therapeutics 6 provides a strong foundation in cancer pathophysiology, treatment modalities, and supportive care, while also exploring the immunologic underpinnings of conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and multiple sclerosis (MS).

This 12 -week course is the fourth in a sequence of six pharmacy skills and simulation-focused courses, in which students apply knowledge and develop the
competencies required to provide patient-centred pharmacy care. Pharmacy Practice Skills & Simulation 4 builds on prior courses to advance students’ capacity for independent clinical practice in the care of patients with conditions covered in the curriculum to date.

Students will apply clinical reasoning, person-centred communication, and pharmacotherapeutic knowledge in complex patient scenarios that reflect realworld practice. Emphasis is placed on information gathering, assessment, documentation and communication skills including in person and via telemedicine. Students will build on their pharmaceutics experience as it relates to pharmacy practice.

This 8-week course is the fifth in a sequence of six pharmacy skills and simulationfocused courses, in which students apply knowledge and develop the competencies required to provide person-centred pharmacy care. Pharmacy Practice Skills & Simulation 5 builds on prior courses to advance students’ capacity for independent clinical practice in the care of patients with conditions covered in the curriculum to date, with an emphasis on neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Students will apply clinical reasoning, person-centred communication, and pharmacotherapeutic knowledge in complex patient scenarios that reflect real-world practice. Emphasis is placed on collaborative communication strategies, including shared decision-making and trauma-informed care, as students navigate uncertainty and support patients and care partners.

This 8-week course is the sixth/final of a series of six pharmacy skills and simulation focused courses where students will apply knowledge and develop skills needed to provide patient-centred pharmacy care. Students will engage in guided, independent and collaborative learning experiences, such as, but not limited to, conducting patient interviews, gathering and interpreting health and medication histories, and evaluating appropriateness of drug therapy. Students will explore the ethical and legal dimensions of pharmacy practice, including responsible prescribing and shared decision making that prioritizes patient safety and fosters culturally competent care. Topics covered in this course will align with PHM 263 Applied Therapeutics 6, with a focus on safe and effective patient care in cancer and immune-mediated disease management.

EL2 is the second early experiential course, completed longitudinally during Year 2. Students will actively participate in day-to-day activities within a direct patient care hospital pharmacy practice setting, thus enabling application of knowledge, skills and values learned in faculty-based courses and simulated practice environments.

This course is designed to provide pharmacy students with the pathobiology, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy and clinical pharmacokinetics required to be a practitioner in oncology, hematology and immunology therapeutics. The course will be taught using a variety of techniques including on-line lectures, case-based learning and small interactive group learning.

This course is designed to provide pharmacy students with the knowledge in pathobiology, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy and clinical pharmacokinetics required to be a practitioner in neuropsychiatric therapeutics. The course may be taught using a variety of techniques including on-line lectures, case-based learning and small interactive group learning.

Medication Therapy Management 4 (MTM 4) is the final course in a four-part course series that is delivered longitudinally over three years of the undergraduate program. MTM 4 builds on the skills developed in previous MTM courses, offering students opportunities to apply and integrate materials learned through all courses in the curriculum to date. This course focuses on the development of skills required for Expanded Scope of Practice (renewing, modifying and initiating pharmacotherapy) and specifically medication reconciliation. Lectures and applied Simulated Practice Sessions emphasize the pharmacists’ role and responsibilities as a communicator, care provider, collaborator and advocate, to prepare students for their Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience rotations.

This course will take an issues-oriented, critical-thinking approach to the healthcare system, with a particular emphasis on pharmacy practice. The course will build on the material from PHM110H1, PHM114H1 and PHM215H1, and will allow a deeper look into areas such as quality and patient safety, e-health technology and the health care needs of diverse populations, including Indigenous peoples. Students will also have an opportunity to explore the role of interprofessional collaboration in health care delivery. Week by week students will examine issues with drug supply and access, pharmacy practice reform, expanded services, collaborative care and reimbursement models, and the interconnectivity of the disparate parts of the health care system. By participating in class discussions, reading course reference materials and completing assignments, students will learn to identify and analyze current and emerging health system issues. In the course of doing so, they will also become aware of, understand and appreciate: factors internal and external to pharmacy and medication use that drive change in practice current strategies for evaluating and improving health care and pharmacy practice the role of interprofessional collaboration in the delivery of healthcare emerging roles and opportunities in pharmacy. This course will help students complement their thinking about medications, individual patients, and the clinical encounter with an orientation to the healthcare system as a whole: how it functions, what are some of its key issues, and how do we tackle them.

This course is designed for students who are curious to learn about pharmaceutical public policy at the global level and also to explore the interrelationship between global and domestic health public policy issues, particularly those related to political economy and the governance of the pharmaceutical system. There are no prerequisites required but students are strongly recommended to have taken at least one social science or public health course given the ample reading and research requirements. Particular emphasis will be placed on how governments in different jurisdictions manage their public health responsibilities, particularly in terms of providing access to essential medicines and human development objectives, the tension between economic and health objectives, global trade obligations and their impact on access to medicines, and how pressure from special interest groups are relevant to pharmaceutical policy. Corruption issues will also be addressed. This course encourages a large amount of student participation through group work, discussion, presentations, and debate. Accordingly, students will need to keep up with the weekly readings in order to ensure that they are prepared for the class.

This course is designed to expose students to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, its environment, inner workings, and approach to engaging customers and stakeholders. The course outlines the business model of the industry and covers both drug development and commercialization, from international and Canadian perspectives. The course is intended to broaden the students’ understanding of the industry, introduce critical concepts and terminology, build confidence and prepare students who may seek a career in the industry.

This course will look at patient safety and the potential for medication incidents from two aspects: (1) the medication-use system (e.g., prescribing, order entry, dispensing, administration, and monitoring of drug therapy); and (2) professional practice (e.g., preventable adverse drug events). It will build on topics previously covered in the curriculum, as well as additional materials related to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, and the concept of continuous quality improvement in pharmacy practice.

The proteins and nucleic acids that are the targets of most prescribed drugs can be classified according to their structure and mechanism of action at the molecular level. In this course, basic concepts of enzyme action such as the mechanisms of enzyme catalysis, the Michaelis-Menten and pre-equilibrium equations, steady-state approximations, allostery and cooperativity will first be covered. Major classes of therapeutic targets will then be discussed with an emphasis on their normal biochemical roles that are exploited for therapeutic intervention. The mechanisms of action of drugs acting on enzymes (antiviral and antimicrobial agents) on nucleic acids and on the cytoskeleton (anti-cancer agents) will be of special interest. The concept of rational cancer therapy will also be covered with examples of drugs targeting growth factors signalling pathways that are dysregulated in cancers.

This course introduces students to fundamental principles and mathematical tools for the design of modern dosage forms as well as new advances in the field of controlled release drug delivery. Topics to be covered include introduction to controlled drug delivery, mechanisms and kinetics of drug release and their dependence on design parameters, biopharmaceutical aspects of controlled drug delivery, in vitro and in vivo correlations, computer-aided design of controlled release dosage forms, polymers and hydrogels for drug delivery, colloidal drug delivery systems, and measurements of drug release profiles. This course is co-taught to graduate students, senior Pharmaceutical Chemistry students and PharmD students.

This course will not be offered in the 2025-6 academic year.

This course examines the many issues surrounding the health of Indigenous people living in Canada. During the 13 weeks of class, students will come to understand the present day health issues of Indigenous peoples from the perspective of their historical and political context and the effects of health care policy. The many highly qualified speakers from the Indigenous community and its focus on health and the healing process make this course unique in the university. Optional, but strongly recommended, field trips include a “medicine walk” on the Six Nations reserve in which students will be able to see firsthand the source of some of the herbal preparations that are used in healing, and a purification (sweat) lodge ceremony outside the city. The course is enriched by its association between students of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Indigenous Studies program in the Faculty of Arts, and Science, many of whom are of Indigenous origin.

This one-week intensive course will provide students with knowledge, skills, and confidence to assume roles in pharmacy management and leadership, and to consider entrepreneurial opportunities aligned with their interests.

The course will focus on competencies and attitudes associated with success in management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. There will be a strong emphasis on self-reflection, application of theory, interactive case-based discussions, and simulations/role plays. Students in this course will be required to energetically engage with the course content and speakers to learn more about themselves, their potential, and the future opportunities that await them in the profession.

*Note: This course may only be taken after students have successfully completed all Year 2 required courses, including EPE II.

The Preparation for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) course is designed to strengthen and integrate students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes in preparation for, and make the transition to, APPE rotations. This course, via lectures, workshops, case-based role play activities and related assignments and assessments, will enable students to review, build on, consolidate and apply previous knowledge, skills and behaviours acquired throughout the curriculum in academic courses and in earlier experiential rotations in the areas of patient care provision, communication, collaboration, management, advocacy, scholarship, and professionalism. (CanMEDS, 2005, AFPC, 2010). The goal of this course is to engender students’ practical skills and strategies to help prepare them for the role of advanced pharmacy practice students.