Pharmacology is the science concerned with the development of new and better therapeutic agents and a thorough understanding of how drugs carry out their biological functions. Toxicology is a related discipline which deals with the recognition that drugs and other chemicals to which we may be exposed in the home, the workplace, or other locations in our environment, may produce adverse effects to our health. The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology is devoted to teaching our students about drugs which can alleviate or cure diseases, as well as chemicals which can cause harm regardless of when or where we are exposed to them. It is clear that the Pharmacist must be a community resource who can respond to people's need to understand the drugs and chemicals to which they may be exposed on a daily basis.

The practice of Pharmacology and Toxicology within a university setting is devoted to an expansion of our knowledge on how chemicals react with living systems at the most fundamental level. Recent dramatic expansion of our understanding of the human genome has reinforced our motivation to pursue basic medical research which uncovers the biological mechanism of action of chemicals. Although laboratory research in the Department is carried out primarily by the faculty, graduate students and research staff, the ever increasing research efforts of Pharmacy students working with faculty members has led to significant enhancement of their training and expansion of their role in the field of scientific discovery.

The Department offers a two year sequence of basic courses to Pharmacy students that in the first professional year includes Introduction to Pharmacology and Pathophysiology, and in the second professional year includes a two semester course in Pharmacology. The Department is also the home of the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology, which is a cooperative effort of Rutgers University, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Environmental and Occupational Health Science Institute. Since 1981 approximately 100 trainees have earned the M.S. and/or Ph.D. in Toxicology within the program. Elective courses in both the Pharmacy and the Toxicology curricula are offered by the faculty of the Department and their colleagues from other departments