Core Concepts of Pharmacology

Launched in 2021, this ambitious project aims to transform pharmacology education by helping students and educators to focus on the knowledge that matters.

The Core Concepts of Pharmacology Education Project

A project of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology Education Section (IUPHAR-ED)

Why core concepts?

Pharmacology students around the world struggle with content overload and often have reduced curricular time devoted to pharmacology

A focus on core concepts helps students develop pharmacology knowledge structures – deep applied understanding of the foundational, enduring, useful, complex and challenging ideas that underpin how medicines work

Educators around the world are now using the core concepts as anchors for their pharmacology curricula – working to ensure that graduates retain the ability to apply these concepts years after their graduation

See the list here

First, we identified, defined and unpacked the 24 core core concepts that all students who have studied pharmacology should remember, understand and apply

An Australasian team developed the initial methodology – see this publication in Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
Our IUPHAR-Ed research team then involved educators from 17 countries across six continents to identify 25 initial core concepts – we published this in one of the most widely read articles in the British Journal of Pharmacology in 2025
We then conducted a second study to develop definitions of each core concept extract sub-concepts created concept maps that explicitly show relationships between concepts within concept families. This was also one of the most read articles in the BJP that year
These two papers have been collectively cited over 90 times

Benefiting the International Pharmacology Community

The project will inform new curricular development. We will provide an evidence base for including core concepts into the learning outcomes of a range of basic science and health professional curricula.

Findings of this project will also enable the assessment of student learning of the core concepts.

Students can devote time to things that matter.
Educators can assess the success of their teaching.
Education leaders can assess the success of their programs.
Educators and education leaders can evaluate innovations in teaching and learning.

The International Core Concepts of Pharmacology Education Project is endorsed and adopted by IUPHAR education section. This website is administered by Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.