Beginning with this fall’s incoming class, students in the Doctor of Pharmacy program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Pharmacy will have the option of completing the program in three years, rather than the traditional four years.
The Immersive PharmD Accelerated Track (ImPAcT) will include the same curriculum as the traditional track, but implemented at an accelerated pace. Dawn Havrda, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS, associate dean for Academic Affairs and Assessment in the college, said the program will provide an option for qualified student pharmacists to complete their training and enter the workforce one year earlier.
“With this new pathway, we are minimizing breaks and redistributing courses so that students can finish their degree in three years, while getting all the same training and completing the same coursework as students in our traditional four-year pathway,” Dr. Havrda said.
In the ImPAcT pathway, the first semester of year one will remain the same, with all students studying on the Memphis campus. Those who meet the academic eligibility requirements will then be able to apply for the ImPAcT pathway, which will kick off in December of the first year.
College of Pharmacy Dean Marie Chisholm-Burns said the ImPAcT pathway will provide even more flexibility for student pharmacists to pursue their degree in a way that suits them.
“It’s all about options,” she said. “Our college continues to look for innovative ways we can provide an excellent pharmacy education, while also providing options for our students. The ImPAcT pathway will give students another route to the PharmD that may fit their lives and schedules better.”
Student pharmacists in the three-year pathway will take courses in the summers and begin clinical rotations earlier, so that they can graduate in three years, while completing all the same credit hours, coursework, and assessments required by the PharmD curriculum.