The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ College of Pharmacy is the state’s leading pharmacy college. More than 70% of the state’s active practicing pharmacists are UAMS College of Pharmacy graduates. Founded in 1951, the college graduated its first class in 1952, and the first all-Pharm.D. class in 1993. It is routinely ranked in the top 40 pharmacy colleges nationally by U.S. News & World Report and is one of only 10 universities nationwide offering the nuclear pharmacy certification necessary to work with radioactive drugs and materials used in imaging. The college has three service units: the Nuclear Education Online Program, a collaboration with the University of New Mexico; the Evidence-Based Prescription Drug program; and the Arkansas Poison and Drug Information Center — a free, statewide resource.
The college offers the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree along with collaborations with other programs at UAMS (Graduate School and College of Public Health) or other system universities to offer additional degrees to Pharm.D. students. The college maintains a graduate education program with the UAMS Graduate School to offer the Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Pharmaceutical Sciences or Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy.
The College of Pharmacy has more than 300 students between its two campuses — its main campus in Little Rock and the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville. The majority of College of Pharmacy graduates take jobs near their hometowns, supporting a strong independent pharmacy network with a national reputation. Many states look to Arkansas as a model for pharmacy education, ownership and policy.
Pharmacy students are active at home and abroad as they work toward becoming pharmacists. The college’s chapter of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists has been named Chapter of the Year six times. College of Pharmacy teams are six-time winners of the National Community Pharmacists Association’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition, which is the most wins by a single program in the event’s history. Currently, the college also offers advanced pharmacy practice experiences in three countries and experiential exchange programs with universities in Taiwan and Thailand.
College faculty members and preceptors routinely receive national recognition and awards and serve in elected professional organization leadership positions. The college participates in the delivery of pharmacy care through a strong relationship with UAMS Health pharmacy and therapeutics services with clinical faculty in Little Rock and across the state at regional program clinics.
The college’s researchers are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, along with other national and international agencies and foundations. The college also ranks in the top third nationwide for NIH funding for pharmacy colleges and 40th nationally in total extramural funding.