Veronika Butterweck
Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy
Phytotherapy – Elective Course for Pharmacy Students
With the tremendous public interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), it is the goal of the College of Pharmacy to expand its existing Herbal Medicines Course (PHA 5352) beyond enrolling the occasional international student and develop an elective class that provides domestic and foreign pharmacists a solid-knowledge base in key areas of phytotherapy. Worldwide, the term “ Phytotherapy” defines the study of the use of extracts from plant origin as medicines of health-promoting agents. With the increasing public interest in complementary and alternative medicine, we anticipate the need for pharmacists trained to understand the common principles of phytotherapy. Advanced knowledge in phytotherapy will help pharmacy students to pursue a career in specialized clinics, retail settings, drug information centers or other health related fields.
The proposed “Phytotherapy” elective course will address issues relevant to the advanced pharmacists, e.g. the use of herbs by children, long term management of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, impact of plant materials in cancer and HIV patients.
The College will partner with colleagues from a University in Thailand to internationalize the Herbal Medicines Class and provide the elective phytotherapy course to pharmacy students in their country. The class will be taught using problem based active learning methods using patient cases as catalysts for learning. Student groups from both Universities will share their solutions to the cases with each other by means of online collaborative software. The elective class will help s tudents from both countries to develop a better understanding of herbal medicines used in different cultures for the treatment of various diseases.