Partnerships

The MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences with Drug Development specialization (MSDD) is a first-in-class program that was inaugurated in Fall 2004. With an outstanding record of graduating students, who are now providing valuable services regionally and nationally as drug/device development experts, the program has been extended internationally.

As an important goal of global outreach, the UC James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy has initiated an exciting novel collaboration with Xiamen University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Accordingly, faculty members from both institutions co-operatively developed a curricular plan tailored to best suit the background and needs of Xiamen University students. As a part of the arrangement, the courses typically taught in the first year of the MSDD curriculum, will be offered on-site by Xiamen faculty. With guidance provided by senior UC colleagues, Xiamen faculty developed course syllabi and pedagogical approaches for these courses to be taught at Xiamen. Upon successful completion of the first year coursework, Xiamen students would be eligible to apply for admission to the UC College of Pharmacy to pursue the MS program as full time/on site students.

During their stay at UC, Xiamen students will be required to register for a minimum of 12 credits/semester. To successfully graduate with the MS degree these students will be required to take 24 credit hours comprising of didactic course work (16 credits and 2 credits of seminars and 6 credits of thesis-based Research Projects or non-thesis track Capstone Projects). This collaborative program was started in the Fall 2017 semester and four students have successfully completed the first year MSDD courses while registered at Xiamen. These students have now been granted admission to the MSDD program and are anticipated to arrive in Cincinnati to begin their 2nd year curriculum on-site at the University of Cincinnati. Xiamen University located in the city of Xiamen, Fujian province, People's Republic of China, is one of the most advanced institution for higher education and ranks as one of the top 10 universities in China for biomedical sciences.

For more information about this joint collaboration, please contact Pankaj B. Desai, Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacokinetics, and the Program Director.