Abstract
Clinical pharmacology as a scientific discipline and medical specialty was unarguably born in the twentieth century. Whilst pharmacology—the science behind the treatment of disease—had been in evolution since at least medieval times, the clinical discipline of pharmacology has had a more recent genesis and rather insidious evolution. During the 1900s, there were some clear father (parent) figures of clinical pharmacology in Europe that emerged and were responsible for the development of the specialty in this continent. This was a time when there were parallel developments in geographically dispersed academic departments (around the globe), during an age of excitement in drug discovery and clinical application of new therapeutic agents. It was the meeting of minds of some of these progenitors of the specialty that led to the development of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) 25 years ago arising from a working party supported by the World Health Organization in Europe. The EACPT now includes all major national organizations for clinical pharmacology in Europe, representing over 4000 individual professionals interested in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. The EACPT has a major interest in promoting the safe use of medicines across Europe and internationally and has supported these aims since 1995, through biennial international scientific congresses and summer schools with delegates and presenters from around the world as well as various working group activities. In this article, the current executive committee members of EACPT recall this history, describe the evolution of the association over the last quarter of a century, and provide an update on the activities and ambitions of the association today.
Highlights
Clinical pharmacology as a scientific discipline and medical specialty was unarguably born in the twentieth century [1]
During the 1900s, there were some clear father figures of clinical pharmacology in Europe that emerged and were responsible for the development of the specialty in this continent. This was a time when there were parallel developments in geographically dispersed academic departments, during an age of excitement in drug discovery and clinical application of new therapeutic agents. It was the meeting of minds of some of these progenitors of the specialty that led to the development of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) 25 years ago arising from a working party supported by the World Health Organization in Europe
Led by David Webb and Simon Maxwell, the meeting was attended by representatives from 12 European countries and addressed the following topics: (i) the state of undergraduate education in clinical pharmacology in Europe, (ii) the knowledge and competencies in relation to medicines that should be expected of a new graduate, (iii) assessments that might demonstrate that this minimum standard had been reached, (iv) a curriculum that might help medical students to achieve this standard, and (v) how competence can be developed in the postgraduate phase
Summary
Clinical pharmacology as a scientific discipline and medical specialty was unarguably born in the twentieth century [1]. It was the meeting of minds of some of these progenitors of the specialty that led to the development of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) 25 years ago arising from a working party supported by the World Health Organization in Europe.
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