Teaching Immunotherapy at College of Pharmacy-Therapy-based Learning

Abstract

Abstract Different types of immunotherapies employed as chemotherapy work in different ways. Some immunotherapy treatments help the immune system stop or slow the growth of cancer cells. Immunology course for Pharmacy year 2 students is taught at College of Pharmacy Chicago State University. The perquisites for the course were Medical Physiology, Biochemistry and Pathophysiology. The students had no prior knowledge of basic immunology. The way the course was designed was that they learn about the current available immunotherapy and then were taken back to the basic concepts of immunology to make sense of that module. We divided Pharmacy Immunology course into five modules, i.e., 1) Monoclonal antibodies and immune checkpoint inhibitors, 2) Non-specific immunotherapies, 3) Oncolytic virus therapy, 4) T-cell therapy, 5) Cancer vaccines. Although the students were taught immunotherapies in two-hour long workshops as discussion in teams, they were also tested for their conceptual knowledge of basic immunology. The assessment results consistently showed a higher level of learning according to Bloom’s taxonomy. The exams were designed to test critical thinking and application and synthesis of knowledge of the students. The assessment data suggested that student performance was significantly improved as compared to previous years of Pharmacy year 2 students who were taught similar content without using this teaching methodology.