Part 3 – IUPHAR Core Concepts and Sub-Concepts

In 2021, the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, Education Section (IUPHAR-Ed) initiated a project, Core Concepts in Pharmacology, with the aim of identifying and defining key concepts that were critical to the understanding of pharmacology by students in the medical sciences. With expert input from basic and clinical pharmacologists from around the globe, 24 core concepts and 103 sub-concepts were defined and have been published, to facilitate improved curriculum design with respect to pharmacology content.

These core concepts are listed in order (CC1 to CC24), in this section, along with the definitions and related sub-concepts. Details of the processes that led to creation of this list may be found in the following publications:

White PJ, Guilding C, Angelo T et al. (2023). Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative. British Journal of Pharmacology, 180(9), 1197–1209. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.16000

Guilding C, Kelly-Laubscher R, Netere A et al. (2023) Developing an international concept-based curriculum for pharmacology education: The promise of core concepts and concept inventories. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1–9. doi:10.1111/bcp.15985

Guilding C, White PJ, Cunningham M et al. (2024). Defining and unpacking the core concepts of pharmacology: A global initiative. British Journal of Pharmacology, 181(3), 375–392. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.16222