The Graduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine is a full-fee-paying, part-time, coursework-only programme designed for physicians working in the medical departments of pharmaceutical companies. The programme is compliant with the syllabus required for accreditation as a Pharmaceutical Physician by the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians (IFAPP). Pharmaceutical physicians are responsible for the conduct of clinical trials, registration of new drugs and associated regulatory activities, pharmacoeconomic studies, supply of drug-related information, pharmacovigilance studies (e.g. monitoring and reporting of adverse drug reactions), and other similar activities. Physicians wishing to advance within the pharmaceutical industry need to develop high levels of skill in the areas mentioned above. It is also important that these skills meet assessable standards and are compatible with international scientific, legal, regulatory, and semantic conventions. This is important for local and international activities and for career development.

Entrance to the Diploma is restricted to qualified medical practitioners having degrees requisite for registration as a medical practitioner in Australia or other jurisdictions considered of comparable standard by the Higher Degree Committee of the Faculty of Medicine.

The Diploma consists of nine core courses, seven of which have six Units of Credit (UOC) each and are common to the Graduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine. The remaining two courses of 3 UOC each, making a total of 48 UOCs, are unique to the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine. [One UOC = approximately 25-30 hours of work in total.] Courses are delivered mainly by distance education with one on-campus workshop per course. The teaching year consists of two Sessions (semesters) each of 18 weeks. Each candidate is assigned a mentor from a medical department of a pharmaceutical company. The programme is available only for part-time study (usually two years).

The award of the Graduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine requires the successful completion of the following nine courses. There are no electives in this programme.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine offered by UNSW is based on the syllabus published by the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians (IFAPP). The objective of the programme is to provide registered medical practitioners who work or hope to work in the pharmaceutical industry with the core competencies needed to practice as pharmaceutical physicians.

Pharmaceutical Physician is the recognized name for medically-qualified people working in the medical departments of pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical physicians are responsible for the conduct of clinical trials, registration of new drugs and associated regulatory activities, pharmacoeconomic studies, supply of drug-related information, pharmacovigilance studies (e.g. monitoring and reporting of adverse drug reactions), and other similar activities.

NEED FOR A PROJECT
For Australia to play its full role in drug development, particularly early-phase drug development, and to maintain high standards of drug delivery, it is essential that Australian pharmaceutical physicians are adequately skilled in the areas mentioned above and that these skills meet assessable standards and are compatible with international scientific, legal, regulatory, and semantic conventions. This is important for local and international activities and for career development.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment will be based on the ability to apply principles to problem solving. There will be minimal emphasis on memorization of factual material. Both written exams and assignments will be based on scenarios i.e. case-type situations that require the exercise of comprehension, judgement, and an understanding of the issues involved.

EDUCATION and ASSESSMENT
Will be based on high-quality information delivery, application of this information through assignment work, and written examinations. Students will be provided with manuals consisting of about 300 pages of specially-commissioned text for each course. This will form the platform for the assignment work that will be based mainly on the primary (i.e. research) literature. A key feature of assignment work will be development of critical appraisal skills for research papers. Students will also be issued with workbooks for each course that will set out assignment work and other tasks. This will be supported by our Web page (http://drugdev.med.unsw.edu.au/) which provides all course information including assignment work, student questions and answers, chat rooms, etc. Students will study the manuals at their own pace within allocated time periods (nine weeks per course). There will be three telephone tutorials and one weekend workshop for each course. Tutors will be available for Q&A by email.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine is provided only as a part-time mainly distance delivered coursework only programme.
Teaching Arrangements. The teaching year will consist of two 18-week Sessions. Each Session will consist of two nine week teaching blocks with a one week break after the first block and a two-week period after the second block. Written examinations will be held at the end of each block and assignments relevant to the topic must be handed in before the end of the block. The programme will be part time and mainly distance delivered with the only on-campus component being the weekend workshop.
NOTE: the division of the semester into blocks is an internal arrangement. Students will enrol for semesters, not blocks and assessment results will be submitted according to the Faculty schedule.

MENTOR SYSTEM
Each student will be allocated a mentor within the medical department of a pharmaceutical company. In most cases, students will be new recruits and the mentor will be the medical director of the company for which the student works. Otherwise, the mentor will be chosen from a pharmaceutical company that is a member of Medicines Australia (the industry association of the Australian pharmaceutical industry). Students will be required to spend a minimum specified time (12-18 hours) with the mentor’s medical department. During this time, students will perform specified task and submit reports on these tasks to their mentor. The mentor will report to the Programme Director on the student’s progress.

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Year 2

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Session 2

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html