Reasons to Study Pharmacology

Mr. Samir Al Baghdadi

Pharmacology is the study of medications and drugs, and is an ideal career path for someone with great memorization skills and who is interested in the field of science. Studying pharmacology requires courses relating to different classes of drugs including how they affect an individual’s body, their potential role in society, and therapeutic uses of the drugs and mechanisms of action for different drugs. Courses also come in different areas of pharmacology, such as pharma-cogenetics, pharmacology, clinical pharmacology and behavioral pharmacology.

1. Careers By Studying Pharmacology 
The first reason to consider studying pharmacology is for the many career options available to you. Not only can you choose to be a pharmacologist, but you can also choose from a wide range of other careers. This includes being a biological statistician, analytical chemist, clinical researcher, cancer researcher, consultant, molecular biologist, dentist, toxicant information specialist, engineer, forensic scientist, toxicologist, veterinarian, science writer, researcher or scientist, risk assessment modeling, professor or teacher in pharmacology, or in various specialties of pharmacology, such as marketing, sales or manufacturing.

2. Choice of Work Environments 
Not only can you choose from many different career directions, but studying pharmacology also opens up the doors for various work environments. This includes the chemical industry, clinical research, academic laboratories, the biomedical or biotechnology industry, consumer products industry, consulting or risk assessment, contact research labs, education, environmental or industrial monitoring, health professions, technical sales and marketing, specialized area of toxicology, scientific media and communications, regulatory agencies for federal and state.

3. Become a Pharmacologist 
One of the top reasons to study pharmacology is if you have a desire to become a pharmacologist. By choosing this profession, you will perform various research experiments to look at how drugs affect individual’s or animal’s health, testing drugs, and conducting tests to look at a variety of substances, like food coloring, dust, gases or others to see if they have negative effects on the body or some with healing properties.

4. Work in Research Laboratory 
Many people studying pharmacology in their career, whether as a pharmacologist or other profession, work in a research laboratory. If this type of environment suits you and seems enjoyable to you, then pharmacology is a great place to study. There are different places where the research laboratory might be located, such as a university, hospital, business or another health-related organization.

5 . Types of Employers 
As far as your employers go, you will have your choice of many different ones. A great thing about choosing to focus on pharmacology as a choice of study is due to choosing between different employers. Some common ones include the Department of Health, National Health Services, Intellectual Property office and different types of pharmaceutical companies.

6. You Have the Right Skills 
Before you decide on the pharmacology industry or this area of study, you should be aware of the skills that are important of this type of scientific industry. They include being able to retrieve, design and interpret very complex data, memorization skills, excellent written and oral communication skills, good organizational skills, critical analytic and problem solving abilities, knowledge of safety, teamwork, and decision making skills.

7. You’re Interested in Scientific Study 
If you have an avid interest in science, this is a great option for you. Whether you plan to become a pharmacologist or simply want to study science for another career, pharmacology is likely to be a course of study you will be involved in. Technical research and being able to solve complex scientific issues are important. Areas of postgraduate work include molecular biology, pharmacology, biochemistry and neuroscience, so if these sound like they are part of your interests, find out more about pharmacology.

8. Job Outlook 
When it comes to careers with studying pharmacology, and being a pharmacologist specifically, there is a good job outlook. Because there are so many different jobs, industries and companies to work for in this area, you have quite a selection of options for the job outlook. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics has reported that by 2018, there will be solid growth of the pharmacology industry, including an increase of about six percent.

9. Decent Work Hours 
If you want to work around 40 hours a week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that pharmacologists work regular full time hours on average. This is a good career option if you want to work traditional business hours.

10. Salary 
The average yearly salary for pharmacology careers has a good range depending on the country. This depends on your education background and the career you have.

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