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E. Songu-Mize, Course Director and Daniel Kapusta Co-Course Director
Medical Class of 2011
Introduction to the 2009 Sophomore Medical Pharmacology Course, PHARM 200
The simplest definition of pharmacology is that it is the study of chemical agents and their interactions with biological systems. Those agents which are used for therapeutic purposes are nominally called drugs. In addition, pharmacology is also concerned with non-therapeutic agents and their effects on biological systems, i.e., diagnostics, substances of abuse, and toxicants. In this context, the study and mastery of pharmacology provides you with a critical foundation on which to build your clinical skills. Each of you will be prescribing medications throughout your careers as physicians. Hence, each of you has a genuine need to learn basic pharmacological principles and their applications to the evaluation of individual agents. It is the purpose of this course to provide you with the information necessary to achieve those skills.
The following information is a guide to our course. It lists the objectives, means of evaluation and grading system that we will utilize, as well as recommended textbooks, attendance policy, a list of faculty and other elements of the course you need to know. Please note that the second year course directors put a lot of work and special attention into arranging your schedule for this year. This was done to enhance your ability to attend regularly scheduled lectures. We sincerely hope that you will avail yourself to this opportunity.
This is one of the most exciting periods to be in the field of medicine, particularly from a therapeutic perspective. With the completion of the human genome and the establishment of

technology platforms in gene arrays and pharmacogenomics, during the course of your career, you will be presented with unprecedented opportunities in terms of understanding disease mechanisms, diagnosis and therapeutics.
The course is designed to present the student with a broad overview of pharmacology with an emphasis on its application to the practice of medicine. The objective of this presentation is to provide you with a basis for understanding drug actions, desired as well as undesired, so that you will be prepared to use therapeutic agents in a rational manner throughout the span of your practice. Although the importance of basic concepts and principles are recognized, straight facts and their applications must also be learned, and an ability to integrate information concerning one class of drugs with another must be demonstrated . The course content will generally reflect the Knowledge Objectives in Medical Pharmacology as established by the
Association for Medical School Pharmacology (AMSP). It should be pointed out that AMSP anticipates that the USMLE Part I will closely reflect these objectives in terms of content.
Our primary means of communication is the lecture. Just about every major lecture series is presented by a faculty member actively pursuing clinical or basic research in the area under discussion. Mainly for this reason, the lectures in this course tend to focus on the leading edge of current thought. Consequently, the lecturer often provides a different perspective than the textbooks and, not infrequently, might disagree with texts.
The lecture series begins with a treatment of general pharmacologic principles that apply to all drugs. This is followed by lectures on specific drug classes, the application of specific agents for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease states. Throughout the course, we will revisit general topics relating to all drug classes by considering such issues as the influences of disease states, age and other factors on drug disposition.
Our philosophy is that drug development changes rapidly while basic principles evolve and change more slowly, and by understanding the latter, you will be able to keep up with the former. Not only does the number of new drugs introduced into medicine continue to expand, but use of older agents endures. In order to live with this expanding number of drugs, we focus our teaching on prototype drugs, pointing out how other agents vary from the most important agents of their class.
These conferences are intended to provide a somewhat more informal setting for subjects that we feel are best handled in a more interactive atmosphere. The purpose of these conferences is to acquaint the student with how certain basic principles in pharmacology and specific agents contribute to the treatment of various disease states. In addition, these conferences will provide the student with the opportunity to review drugs previously covered in the course in relation to their use in different patient-care settings. The conferences will be presented by clinical faculty.
It should be noted that these conferences are intended to be interactive for the faculty and students. Thus, it is expected that the students will ask questions during these presentations.

We try to adhere rigorously to the printed schedule, as many individuals make long-range plans based on it. If and when a schedule change is absolutely necessary, this will be announced at lecture at the earliest possible time. Students who miss these or other announcements due to absence are responsible for obtaining this information.
The Department recommends the following books for this course.
1) Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics available from the library via AccessMedicine.
http://www.lsuhsc.edu/no/library/ss&d/data/accessmedicine.html
To access remotely you will need to use your library barcode and PIN.
2) Basic & clinical pharmacology. Edited by Bertram G. Katzung 2007 available electronically via AccessMedicine.
3) Lippincott ’s Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology, 2009 by Finkel.
There is no institutional electronic access to this title, it will be kept on reserve for you in the library (no need to buy it, it is the 3 rd preferred text)
Lecture notes and powerpoints will be available on the course website: http://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/pharmacology/courses/medpharm/ . The notes can be accessed by clicking on each lecture topic in the schedule.
In addition to the textbooks listed above, there are many excellent sources of information that deal with the clinical aspects of pharmacology that may be of interest to you. These include - but are not limited to - The Medical Letter, The New England Journal of Medicine, Drugs, and
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. These texts are available in the library.
There will be 3 progress exams and a final examination. The dates and times of the exams are listed on the Lecture and Exam Schedule. The Final Examination will be given on May 8 th and will be a shelf exam of the National Board of Medical Examiners.
All progress exams will consist of multiple choice questions from the material presented in lectures, clinical correlations, and in some cases from the suggested reading material. They will be given in the MDLS labs located on the 4 th floor of the MEB. The NBME Shelf Examination will begin at 9:00 am and will last for 2.5 hours.
Traffic during examinations is a distraction. If you must leave, obtain an acknowledgement from a proctor and leave your exam materials with him/her. Also, the proctors will try to keep announcements during exams to minimum.
Each student will be required to sign an Honor Statement before each examination. It is expected that you will uphold this statement and conduct yourself in the appropriate manner.

The Department of Pharmacology will not use a challenge system. All Exams will be reviewed by at least 5 faculty members before each exam, and the statistical analysis from the computer center will be used following each exam.
A student who is unable to take any particular scheduled and required examination is expected to notify (by phone or in person) the Department AT ONCE . An unexcused absence will result in a grade of ZERO for that exam
The passing grade for each examination is 1.5 standard deviation units below the class mean or
70%, whichever is lower. Thus a grade of 70% is always passing, irrespective of the class mean.
Each exam will be evaluated on a percent basis. Exams will be weighted as follows: Exam 1,
24%; Exam 2, 22%; Exam 3, 29%; Shelf, 25% .
It is our policy to award an “Honors” grade to those students with a final average of 91% or above, a “High Pass” to those with a final average of 80%-90%, and a “Pass” to those with a final average of 70%-79%.
In accordance with the policy of the School of Medicine in New Orleans, the Department reserves the right to re-examine a student at any time to obtain a more-accurate evaluation of the student's knowledge in Medical Pharmacology. After prior notification by the student of a problem related to an exam and at the discretion of the Faculty, a student whose over-all grade in the course is at the level of a near-pass due to poor performance on one of the regularly scheduled examinations may be re-examined on that material. In such cases, the student will be informed in writing of the deficit and in consultation with the Faculty, a remediation program will be established. The nature of the program will be tailored to individual needs of the student.
The student will be re-examined on the material by the faculty member(s) directing the remediation. The remediation process must be completed by a date to be announced. At the end of the program, the faculty member(s) overseeing the remedial work will submit a written evaluation to the Department for their consideration and assignment of a final grade. The student will receive a copy of the evaluation. A student who successfully remediates their deficiency will receive a "Pass" grade for the course. A student who does not successfully remediate the deficiency will receive a "Fail" grade for the course.
It is the policy and expectation of the Pharmacology Department that students attend all regularly scheduled class functions. The School of Medicine policy on attendance:
Students are expected to meet the standard of performance as specified by the faculty in each course, including requirements governing attendance at lectures and other course activities. It is expected that students will attend all course activities. Explanation of absence from course activities is to be submitted in writing by the student to the course director or teaching unit

involved. When absence from course activities can be anticipated, arrangements should be made in advance with the appropriate faculty member for whatever make-up work may be required. Faculty action concerning student absences should be reported to the Office of Student Affairs and
Records for inclusion in the student's file.
Faculty members will, at their discretion, attempt to cooperate with the note-takers in identifying errors and providing clarifications. However, the faculty cannot guarantee perfection in this endeavor and cannot accept responsibility for note-takers' errors. In addition, faculty members will not correct an error of omission.
Administrative matters will be handled by the Academic Coordinator in the Department of
Pharmacology. The telephone number is 504-568-4740.
One major responsibility of the Course Directors is to see that everyone who needs it, is given the necessary help. Don't hesitate to come to us if you discover you're having difficulty before we do. A faculty member's door is always open to you.
COURSE DIRECTORS:
Emel Songu-Mize, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology, emize@lsuhsc.edu
Daniel Kapusta, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology, dkapus@lsuhsc.edu
TEACHING FACULTY:
Wayne L. Backes, Ph.D
. Professor of Pharmacology and Associate Dean for Research
Hamid Boulares, Ph.D.
, Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Andrew Catling, Ph.D
., Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Charles Cefalu, M.D
., Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of Section of Geriatric
Medicine
Stephania Cormier, Ph.D
., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Bennet J. deBoisblanc, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Director of Critical
Care Services
Harry Gould, Ph.D., M.D., Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience
Paula Gregory, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Genetics
Deborah Fox, Ph.D
., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology
James Hill, Ph.D.
, Professor of Ophthalmology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Microbiology
Jeffrey Hobden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and
Parasitology
Stephen Kantrow, M.D.
, Associate Professor of Medicine
Daniel R. Kapusta, Ph.D
., Professor of Pharmacology
Alan Kaye, M.D., Ph.D.
, Chair and Professor of Anesthesiology, Professor of
Pharmacology
Eric Lazartigues, Ph.D
., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

Kim E. LeBlanc, M.D., Ph.D
., Chair and Professor of Family Medicine
Charles Nichols, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Dennis Paul, Ph.D
., Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Robert Richards, M.D
., Associate Professor of Medicine, Co-Director, Diabetes Clinic
Reginald D. Sanders, M.D
., Rheumatologist in Private Practice
Emel Songu-Mize, Ph.D
., Professor of Pharmacology
Victor Tuckler, M.D
., Clinical Instructor of Medicine
Kurt J. Varner, Ph.D
., Interim Head and Professor of Pharmacology
Peter Winsauer, Ph.D
., Professor of Pharmacology
Thomas Cooper Woods, Ph.D.
, Instructor, Department of Pharmacology,
Head, Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, Ochsner Clinic Foundation
Becky Worthylake, Ph.D
., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Guangyu Wu, Ph.D
., Associate Professor of Pharmacology
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Department Office – Medical Education Building, Suite 7103, Phone 504-568-4740

Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
5 10:00
11:00 Drug Receptor Mechanisms
7 10:00
11:00 Absorption, Distribution & Excretion
8 8:00 Absorption, Distribution & Excretion
9:00
12 10:00 Drug Metabolism
11:00 Clinical Pharmacokinetics
14 10:00 Clinical Pharmacokinetics
11:00 Clinical Pharmacokinetics
15 8:00 Signal Transduction
9:00 Signal Transduction
19
21 10:00 Independent Study (test preparation)
11:00 Introduction to Autonomics
22 8:00 Parasympathetic Nervous System
9:00 Parasympathetic Nervous System
26 10:00 Sympathetic Nervous System
11:00 Sympathetic Nervous System
Paul
Paul
Wu
Wu
Wu
Backes
Backes
Backes
Backes
Backes
Catling
Catling
Kapusta
Kapusta
Kapusta
Kapusta
Kapusta

Feb
Feb
Jan
Jan
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
28 10:00 Anticoagulants
11:00 Antianemics
29 8:00 Diuretics
9:00 Diuretics
2 10:00 Pharmacotherapy of Hypertension
11:00 Pharmacotherapy of Hypertension
4 10:00 Antiarrhythmic Drugs
11:00 Antiarrhythmic Drugs
5 8:00 Exam Review
9:00 Autonomic Pharmacology Review and Problems
9 9:00
10:00
11 10:00 Pharmacotherapy of Congestive Heart Failure
11:00 Pharmacotherapy of Congestive Heart Failure
12 8:00 Antianginal Agents
9:00 Antilipidemic Agents
16 10:00 Anti-inflammatory Steroids
11:00 Antihistamine Agents
18 10:00 NSAIDS
11:00 NSAIDS
19 8:00 Respiratory Drugs
9:00 Clinical Correlation: Asthma
23
25 10:00 No Class
11:00
Woods
Woods
Kapusta
Kapusta
Songu-Mize
Songu-Mize
Varner
Varner
Faculty
Kapusta
Varner
Varner
Kapusta
Boulares
Paul
Songu-Mize
Boulares
Boulares
Cormier deBoisblanc

Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Mar
Feb
Mar
Mar
Mar
26 8:00 Pharmacotherapy of Gastrointestinal Disease
9:00 Pharmacotherapy of Gastrointestinal Disease
2 10:00 Pharmacotheraphy of Gout and Arthritis
11:00 Pharmacotheraphy of Gout and Arthritis
4 10:00 Hypoglycemic Agents
11:00 Clinical Correlation: Diabetes Mellitus
5 8:00 Hypothalamic & Pituitary Hormones
9:00 Hypothalamic & Pituitary Hormones
9 10:00 Androgens, Estrogens & Progestins
11:00 Androgens, Estrogens & Progestins
11 10:00 Thyroid Hormones
11:00 Antifungal Drugs
12 8:00 Antimicrobial Drugs
9:00 Exam Review
16 9:00
10:00
18 10:00 Antimicrobial Drugs
11:00 Antimicrobial Drugs
19 8:00 Antiviral Agents
9:00 Antiviral Agents
23 10:00 Cancer Chemotherapy
11:00 Cancer Chemotherapy
25 10:00 Immunosuppressant Drugs
11:00 Antiepileptic Drugs
26 8:00 Pharmacotherapy of Movement Disorders
Nichols
Nichols
Sanders
Sanders
Varner
Richards
Lazartigues
Lazartigues
Worthylake
Worthylake
Lazartigues
Fox
Hobden
Faculty
Hobden
Hobden
Hill
Hill
Catling
Catling
Kantrow
Nichols
Winsauer

April
April
April
April
April
April
April
Mar
9:00 Pharmacotherapy of Psychoses
30 10:00 Lithium & Antidepressant Drugs
11:00 Lithium & Antidepressant Drugs
April 1 10:00 Alcohol, Anxiolytics & Sedative Hypnotics
11:00 Alcohol, Anxiolytics & Sedative Hypnotics
April 2 8:00 CNS Stimulants
9:00
April
April
6 10:00 Opioid Analgesics
11:00 Opioid Analgesics
8 10:00 Pain Management
11:00 Pain Management
9 8:00 Clinical Correlation: Headaches
9:00 Independent Study; Drug Regulation
13
15 10:00 Drugs of Abuse
11:00 Drugs of Abuse
16 8:00 General Anesthetics
9:00 Local Anesthetics
20 10:00 Geriatric Medicine
11:00 Geriatric Medicine
22 10:00 Integrative Pharmacology
11:00 Ergogenic Supplements
23 8:00 Toxicology and Drug Overdose
9:00 Toxicology and Drug Overdose
Winsauer
Winsauer
Winsauer
Winsauer
Winsauer
Winsauer
Gregory
Paul
Paul
Gould
Gould
Gould
Winsauer
Winsauer
Kaye
Kaye
Cefalu
Cefalu
LeBlanc
LeBlanc
Tuckler
Tuckler

April 27-May 1
May
4 9:00
10:00
May 8 9 -12:00