The College of Engineering and the College of Pharmacy formally introduced their latest collaboration to a room filled with presidents of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies Friday at the Michigan League.
The collaboration is a new master's degree program - the Master of Engineering in Pharmaceutical Engineering.
Naír Rodríguez, associate pharmaceutics professor, said the timing of this jointly-administered program was impacted by the University's new partnership with Pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis, which is moving its product development group from New Jersey to Ann Arbor.
"Parke-Davis coming to town triggered us getting together. The needs of Parke-Davis and other pharmaceutical companies led to this opportunity," she said. "Parke-Davis will be helping with funding and research and with internship positions for students in this program."
Chemical engineering students interested in the program will apply beginning the second semester of their junior year and pharmacy students during the first semester of their first year in the College of Pharmacy. Courses offered in the program include process engineering in drug discovery, novel gene and drug delivery systems and receptor biology and chemical signaling.
Parke-Davis Vice President of Pharmaceutical Delivery David Pope said he plans to help Rodríguez and chemical and biomedical engineering Prof. Henry Wang with development of the course.
"I need trained people in chemical and all aspects of manufacturing," Pope said. "Most students in pharmaceutics only have a doctorate in the clinical area. What I need is people also trained in the development of the forms and processes of pharmaceutics."
Pope said the new Parke-Davis building is currently being built on the corner of Plymouth Road and Huron Parkway, near North Campus, and should be completed in 2001. He said 200 pharmaceutical scientists will be relocating from New Jersey to Ann Arbor.
Representatives from other pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pharmacia and Upjohn participated in the two-day symposium of lectures and panel discussions.
Rodríguez said the reason for the symposium is to bridge the gap between pharmaceutics and engineering.
"We want to discuss with academic representatives and industry about where we start, what are the needs out there," she said. "Then we can start integrating both the academic and industrial perspective and bring that earlier to our students."
Parke-Davis Vice President Roger Brummel said he thinks the new master's program is a fantastic move.
"We depend on good, solid training from academia," he said. "No one school ever trains a person completely. We have to be better prepared. This joint program looks like it's going to fit nicely both locally and nationally."
Founded in 1876, the University's College of Pharmacy was the first established at an U.S. public university. The University first offered engineering courses in 1853 and established the nation's first program in chemical engineering in 1898.
09-20-99
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