RISK ASSESSMENT IN TOXICOLOGY & PHARMACOLOGY

Catalog description

Human health risk assessment deals with the process to determine if possible adverse effects can result from exposure to environmental or medicinal substances. Understanding risk assessment as a method to determine health hazards is fundamental in the fields of toxicology and pharmacology. In pharmacology risk assessment relates to safety pharmacology where the potential undesirable pharmacodynamic effects of a substance on physiological functions is determined. The course will provide analytical and quantitative risk assessments methods to assess how chemical substances as well as medicinal agents can introduce health risks, and their short - and long-term effects. Concepts of safety pharmacology focused on investigating the potential undesirable pharmacodyn amic effects of a substance are discussed and applied. In terms of pharmacological impact students will learn how risk assessment as well as safety pharmacology can protect patients participating in preclinical studies. Risk assessment as well as safety pharmacology rely on standardized methods to determine the safety of substances that are present in our daily lives as well as potential medicinal substances. The standardized method including determination of exposure, effects and long-term consequences will be covered in depth and applied by students in the course. The student will learn the importance of applying current scientific literature as well as validated data sets to determine the health risk of chemical and potential medicinal agents on humans. Additionally, the course will discuss and provide tools necessary to communicate to the public the results of the risk assessment.