Being a pharmacist takes more than the ability to fill a pill bottle and smile at customers.

It also takes an in-depth knowledge of biology and chemistry. And the past year, it became obvious that being a good pharmacist also involves having good ethics.

Jack Fincham, dean of KU's School of Pharmacy, says recent national scandals have served as a learning tool for students.

When those ethics break down, scandal happens such as when Kansas City pharmacist Robert Courtney was discovered diluting cancer drugs or when Kansas University graduate Corey Penner was convicted last spring of drawing blood from dozens of patients at a Newton pharmacy for a non-existent research project.

Jack Fincham, dean of KU’s School of Pharmacy, said those incidents have made good teaching tools.

“From Day One of all these controversies we’ve been very open with all our students about how devastating these incidents are,” he said. “I would say virtually every course in our curriculum has touched upon these issues in the last year.”

But those stories apparently haven’t deterred anyone from the profession. KU still has roughly 600 students studying pharmacy.

“I think it’s focused people’s attention on how important pharmacies are and, more importantly, how crucial it is for pharmacists to practice ethically and correctly,” he said.

It helps, Fincham said, that pharmacy attracts compassionate and smart people.

‘Great profession’

“It’s a great profession to help people … day in and day out,” he said.

“We have very bright students who have a capacity for math and science. There’s an increasing demand for pharmacists to be good communicators, so they have to have people skills.”

The school has 55 full-time faculty, responsible for instruction in the undergraduate professional doctor of pharmacy program as well as in graduate programs. Three of the four departments in the school pharmacology and toxicology, medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry offer master’s and doctor of philosophy degrees. Pharmacy Practice, the other department, offers master’s degrees.

The school is on three campuses: the main campus in Lawrence, the Kansas University Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Kan., and the Edwards Campus in Overland Park.

Six-year program

The program takes six years two in a “pre-pharmacy” program, then four years toward obtaining the undergraduate degree. During that time, students learn about the chemical structure of drugs, the effects of drugs and how drugs interact with the body. It’s an intense learning experience, Fincham said.

“The reality is that these are very complex chemical agents people are taking,” he said, “and they’ll also interact with other drugs that people are taking. Somebody on a half-dozen medications needs the effects of those medications explained to them, and their drug therapy monitored. What appears to be a very orderly process can be very complex.”

The last year of the program, students rotate among a series of nine one-month internships ranging from pharmacy practice in urban hospitals to small-town grocery stores.

“It’s really important they have as many experiences as possible during that last year,” Fincham said. “Our pharmacy students are exposed to a lot of experiences that help them make a major difference in people, health care, wherever they practice.”