Integrated Master in Pharmaceutical Science

Egas Moniz Higher Institute of Health Science's (IUEM) Integrated Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Science is one of the most renowned courses in Portugal at this time. It boasts a tradition in academic excellence in training professionals that goes back more than 20 years. We’ve trained more than 1,000 professionals in pharmaceutical science. According to the employability study (Nielsen) carried out among graduates in the last 5 years, we can see that our pharmacists have a 97% employability rate in the field of Pharmaceutical Science, and can achieve a stable contract after three months.

We’ve successfully evolved since the creation of the Undergraduate Degree in Pharmaceutical Science, always with the aim of meeting the new challenges that arise both in the education sector and the pharmaceutical sector. A key factor in our master’s degree’s success has been our ability to adapt to change and develop new teaching approaches that are adapted to the labor market’s real needs. Proof of this was the creation in 2014 of a Placement program in the Pharmaceutical Industry in partnership with APIFARMA, with ANL - National Association of Clinical Laboratories and the Military Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products Laboratory, which envisages placements for students who have graduated from the 1st cycle of studies (3 years) of the Integrated Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Science, (MICF), offering them a midterm vocational experience that is integrated into their academic training. This program further contemplates extracurricular internships for students who have completed the 2nd cycle of the MICF with the aim of making it easier for them to integrate their professional life. Other internship programs are also being developed in different fields of professional activity.

The Integrated Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Science trains healthcare professionals and as such, the patient is at the center of their occupation. Pharmaceutical Science professionals can operate in several fields, focusing particularly on medicinal products – how they are developed, how they work, and how they are used by the population to prevent and treat diseases. They can also work in several laboratory areas, namely medical, environmental, and food tests, as well as in the whole related industrial and commercial sectors.

We train pharmaceutical leaders and active members in health care teams with the capacity to be lifelong experts in all fields of health. We also train professionals with the capacity to become researchers in the various fields of health science.

What makes us unique

• The high practical component of the course. You will have practical laboratory classes since the 1st year of the course, in a total of more than 1000 hours of effective laboratory work.
• A young and qualified teaching body motivated to assist you.
• Large, modern, and well-equipped laboratories.
• You will have simulated practical classes of community pharmacy and carry out curricular internships in community and hospital pharmacies, integrating the knowledge acquired during academic training with pharmaceutical practice.
• A highly diversified training will allow you to acquire skills to work in multiple areas.
• The possibility of taking part in extracurricular internships, in the middle of the academic training or at the end of the Integrated Masters Program, in Portugal or abroad, in close collaboration with companies and other educational and research institutions, expanding your training and targeting your areas of interest.
• The high employability (97%) of our graduates is due to the solid scientific and technical training.
• The existence of the Egas Moniz Interdisciplinary Research Centre (CiiEM), will open the door for you to undertake scientific research projects in highly diversified areas, within dynamic and interactive research teams.
• The possibility of having exchange programs with foreign universities, namely through the Erasmus program.
• Taking part in several conferences, congresses, and seminars will keep you up to date with the most recent trends in several areas.

Year 1

• Personal skills
• Human Anatomy
• Cellular Biology
• Pharmaceutical Careers
• General and Analytical Chemistry
• Pharmaceutical Calculation
• Physical Chemistry Principles in Pharmaceutical Science
• Human Physiology
• Biochemistry I
• Immunology
• Histology and Haematology
• Organic Chemistry I

Year 2

• Biochemistry II
• Organic Chemistry II
• Parasitology and Mycology
• Bacteriology
• Pathophysiology
• Pharmaceutical Communication and Marketing
• Dermopharmacy and dermo-cosmetics
• Instrumental Methods of Analysis
• Drug-Receptor Interaction
• Virology
• Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy
• Pharmaceutics

Year 3

• Pharmaceutical technology I
• Pharmacokinetics
• Pharmacology I
• Biostatistics
• Public Health
• Drug Design
• Pharmacology II
• Molecular Biology
• Pharmaceutical Technology II
• Operational Management and Logistics
• Ethics and Pharmaceutical Legislation
• Scientific Research Methods

NB: The title of graduate in Basic Pharmaceutical Science Studies is granted after 6 semesters and receiving 180 ECTS.

Midway through their academic training, students may experience real-life professional challenges in placements in different areas.

Year 4

• Biotechnology and Pharmaceutics
• Bromatology and Hydrology
• Pharmaceutical Services
• Pharmacotherapy I
• Pharmaceutical Organisation and Management
• Nutrition
• Toxicology
• Advanced Therapeutic Systems
• Pharmacotherapy II
• Pharmacogenetics
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Option I

Year 5

• Regulatory Affairs
• Quality in Pharmaceutical Science
• Hospital Pharmacy
• Over-the-counter drugs
• Health and Pharmacoeconomics policies
• Option II
• Internship

The Integrated Master's Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (MICF) aims to provide students with scientific knowledge and skills in the various areas of pharmaceutical intervention, thus enabling them to broaden their range of professional outlets.

At the end of the MICF, the student will be able to:

• Use, evaluate, and coordinate systems for the development, production, acquisition, distribution, control, and inventory of medicines and health products;
• Dispensing medicines and health products according to the patient needs and legislation;
• Producing handled medicines according to magisterial or workshop formulas;
• To interpret strictly the medical prescription correctly identifying the medicines: dosages, pharmaceutical form, and administration route;
• Interpret and participate in the decision underlying the medical prescription;
• Conduct pharmaceutical advice, with consistency and technical rigor, and scientific basis;
• Recognize the situations that can be treated with self-medication, optimizing their results;
• Administer medicines when necessary, namely vaccines, injectables, and others;
• Make pharmacotherapeutic decisions based on biomedical, pharmaceutical, clinical, and administrative knowledge;
• Develop a pharmaceutical care plan that maximizes patient response to therapy to ensure the medication's success;
• Monitor the use of the medicine recognizing the adverse reactions that may arise from the use of the drugs, including the determination of pharmacokinetic parameters and the establishment of individualized dosage schedules;
• Analyze the utility and advise on the use of herbal products and dietary supplements;
• Provide correct information on medicines to health professionals and patients in order to promote their correct, safe, and effective use;
• Provide counseling and promote healthy lifestyles as a proactive public health agent;
• Identify dermo-cosmetic needs and advise the most appropriate treatment for each situation;
• Prevent and analyze exposure to common toxic agents;
• Perform the collection of biological products, execution and interpretation of clinical analysis, and determination of serum levels;
• Perform and interpret toxicological, hydrological, and bromatological analysis;
• Perform the registration, preparation, and quality control of pharmaceutical products;
• Integrate multidisciplinary teams that develop and conduct clinical trials of medicines and medical devices;
• Perform pharmaceutical management functions in several areas: institutional and private sector;
• Document and carry out processes of quality management in the pharmaceutical area and health products;
• Plan, organize, and coordinate management systems in the pharmaceutical area involving human, material, and financial resources;
• Integrate hospital infection control committees.
• Integrate committees to elaborate therapeutic guidelines used in clinical practice;
• Participate in the elaboration of health policies, namely in the medicine area and related;
• Analyze and elaborate correct decisions in the pharmaceutical marketing and health economics area;
• To carry out research in the areas of health sciences applying knowledge of biology, genetics, immunology, pharmacology, microbiology, and biotechnology, among others;
• Identify, analyze, and solve ethical and deontological problems in the pharmaceutical area;
• Represent the pharmaceutical profession with high ethical rigor

When you complete the degree, you will be able to:

• Enroll in the Pharmacists' Association and, later on, if you wish, obtain the title of specialist in different areas ranging from clinical analysis to regulatory issues;
• Work in community pharmacy as technical director, assistant pharmacist or pharmacist. The pharmacist is the only professional who can occupy these functions;
• Work in a hospital pharmacy where you can be director of service or the head of different departments. The pharmacist is the only professional who can occupy these functions.
• Work in the pharmaceutical industry in multiple areas ranging from research and development to commercialization, through production, quality control, marketing, clinical trials and registries, distribution, stockists and exporters, among others. You can occupy functions of direction or of leadership in the different sectors. In Industries with AIM (Market Introduction Authorization) it is mandatory for the Technical Director to be a pharmacist, especially associated with Quality Assurance and/or Regulatory Affairs. At the factory, besides being a member of the OF (Pharmacists' Association), he must also hold the title of specialist in the Pharmaceutical Industry, while in the other Industries that only have a license to trade and distribute, it is sufficient to be enrolled in the OF.
• Work in different laboratories of analysis, which can be clinical analysis, environmental analysis, food analysis, forensic analysis, among others.
• Choose to pursue a career in scientific research in the most diverse scientific areas.