Doctor of Pharmacy Program

Overview

As the leading health care authorities on medication, pharmacists play essential roles in many aspects of patient care, including counseling patients, providing immunizations and consulting with other members of the health care team.

Whether you attend classes on the Albany Campus or the Vermont Campus, the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program at ACPHS prepares you to work in a range of health care settings, giving you the ability to connect your professional and personal interests into a rewarding career.

What makes our Pharm.D. program special is the breadth and depth of our faculty. The faculty at the College have specialties in areas that include oncology, tobacco cessation, nutrition, infectious disease, nephrology and diabetes. This means they are able to keep up with the latest developments in the treatment of patients suffering from these diseases and share that information with you. Many of these same faculty also teach and mentor students at their practice sites, so that you can watch and learn from the experts.

Entry Options and Progression Requirements

First- and second-year students entering the Doctor of Pharmacy program at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have two distinct classifications: Early Assurance and Pre-Pharmacy. Details on each category can be found on the Entry Options and Progression Requirements page.

Students interested in transferring into the Doctor of Pharmacy program on the Albany Campus or enrolling on the Vermont Campus should visit the linked page in the Admissions section of the web site.

Curriculum

To view the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum, please click here.

Experiential Education

Beginning at the end of the first professional year, students embark on a series of pharmacy practice experiences ("rotations") that allow them to apply what they have learned in classrooms and labs in a "real world" pharmacy setting.

Licensure

In the past five years, approximately 98% of ACPHS graduates have passed the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) on the first attempt. To learn more about licensure requirements in New York and Vermont, please visit our licensure page.

Career Pathways

As America ages and medications become more complex, the demand for pharmacists remains strong. Graduates from ACPHS’s Doctor of Pharmacy program practice in a variety of professional settings including: community pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory care clinics, long term care facilities, managed care, government, health care agencies, and academia.

A study released in December 2008 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that the nationwide pharmacist shortage that exists today will further expand in the coming years. By 2016, HHS projects a shortfall of 25,100 pharmacists across the U.S., meaning approximately 10% of available jobs at that time will be unfilled.