FELLOWSHIP IN ANALYTICAL CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY

The FACP training program is designed to give training primarily encompassing the areas of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) instrumentation and assays; basic pharmacokinetics; therapeutic drug monitoring; proposal and thesis writing.

Educational approach

The educational approach of the program is in-service training and Fellowship students will join the routine running of the Unit. Lectures and practical sessions will be given and in the second year a project will be undertaken.

Outline:

1. The chosen candidates will be part of the working laboratory and gain hands on experience in the development, validation and running of assays on HPLC and LC-MS/MS.
2. Formal lectures and seminars will include basic pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring, Good Clinical Practice, basic statistics and various aspects of HPLC.
3. Exposure is also given to immunoassay and genomic techniques.
4. Fellowship students will be required to take part in journal clubs.
5. In the second year a project will be undertaken. The Fellowship students will be required to write a project, submit this to the Institutional Review Board for both scientific and ethical approval. Following approval, to collect, analyse the data and write the final dissertation.
6. The exit exam will be conducted at CMC with external examiners and upon successful completion of the course a certificate will be awarded.

Objectives of the training program

At the end of the training program the successful candidates should be able to:

• Confidently work on both HPLC and LC-MS/MS instrumentation (this will only be undertaken with proven ability on HPLC).
• Be able to develop and validate a drug assay in whole blood, plasma or serum on HPLC.
• Understand the basics of pharmacokinetics and know how to determine the various pharmacokinetic parameters after both intravenous and oral dosing.
• Understand the reasons and concepts related to Therapeutic Drug Monitoring.
• Write a project proposal, collect and analyze the data with the relevant statistics.
• Write up the final thesis.
• Have a broad understanding of different analytical techniques.
• Have an understanding of Good Clinical Practice Guidelines.
• Have an understanding of laboratory safety and Good Laboratory Practice.

Number of Fellowship Students:

Each year 2 seats are available.

Course duration

2 years

Eligibility for the course:

M.Pharm (any discipline), M.Sc (Chemistry)

2014 Dates

The application forms for the 2014 course will be available from February 2014. The entrance exam will take place on May 23rd 2014 and the course will start in July 2014.

The application form may be obtained from:

1. The Registrar, Carmen Block, Christian Medical College, Bagayam, Vellore-632 002; E-mail: registrar@cmcvellore.ac.in ; Tel 0416 228 4255.
2. The Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Christian Medical College Hospital, Ida Scudder Road, Vellore 632 004. e-mail: clinpharm@cmcvellore.ac.in; Tel: 0416-228 2721
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Selection

The applicants will be called for an entrance test at CMC in the morning. The short listed candidates will be then called for personal interview in the afternoon for final selection.

The last date for submission of applications is March 27th 2014