There are only a few professions that offer such a wide range of career opportunities as pharmacy does. However, the field itself is changing rapidly, with the need for renewal already evident in the training of pharmacists. We spoke to Dr. Lajos Botz, former Dean of the University of Pécs Faculty of Pharmacy, who stepped down in the fall, about the excitement and opportunities of the profession, the achievements and milestones of the past four years, goals, teachers’ roles, and what those gravitating towards pharmacy education should be prepared for.
Written by Viktor Harta
“In 2019, at the beginning of my term as dean, we set a fundamental goal to increase the number of faculty members of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Pécs, which at that time was 37. The current figures show an obvious improvement: between 2019 and 2023, we hired 29 people, so now a team of 66 people is teaching the pharmacists of the future in Pécs, and the faculty also has more than 40 non-teaching staff members. Since pharmacy training is highly practice-oriented, we also placed particular emphasis on improving the student-teacher ratio. In 2019, there was roughly one teacher for every 11 students, but four years later, the ratio has been reduced to roughly six students per teacher, which is also very good by international standards and provides a basis for further development of the faculty," said Professor Lajos Botz, Chief Pharmacist of the Clinical Centre Central Clinical Pharmacy and Director of the UP Coordination Centre for Clinical Trials, who succeeded Professor Pál Perjési, the first dean of the faculty, between 2019 and May 2023.
He pointed out that another key issue during his term was ensuring the financial stability of the young faculty, generating resources, and expanding economic opportunities. He called for a change of approach in the case of the department directors: they should have a high level of authority over their units’ income, whether it is from grants, teaching, or research and development, and, as the person with the best overview of their unit, they should be able to allocate it as they see fit. The foundations for this have been successfully laid, and everything is in place to improve this structure.
The future is health data treasure
The aim was also to increase the teaching rate in the departments of the Faculty of Pharmacy, which exceeded 70 percent by 2023. A major contribution to this was the transfer of the Department of Organic and Pharmacological Chemistry from the UP Medical School to the Faculty of Pharmacy, the transfer of the teaching of basic clinical knowledge from the UP Medical School Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, and the establishment of the Center for Health Technology Assessment and Pharmacoeconomic Research, which, in addition to its teaching role, is more dominant in tenders and market orders.
The main areas of research at the research centre, which can also be considered a multidisciplinary melting pot of doctors, pharmacists, biostatisticians, data analysts, and economists, are health data analytics and health economics analysis, targeting not only internal researchers but also the pharmaceutical industry and digital health companies.
“The Center for Health Technology Assessment and Pharmacoeconomic Research is an excellent example of how something can be created without asking for funds at the beginning of the process and practically creating it together with generating resources and providing the necessary funding. The research centre is a good example and a good practice in terms of management, the ability to apply for tenders, and, in line with the higher education model change, its presence on the market. The research centre has fulfilled several orders from pharmaceutical companies and has become a very strong part of the National Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience”, Dr. Lajos Botz noted.
He considers the first English-language biotechnology bachelor course launched in September 2022 at the UP Faculty of Pharmacy a milestone, which is the first among Hungarian pharmacy training institutions to offer graduates globally sought-after knowledge and several career paths. As he said, biotechnology has now become a very strong branch of drug development and the healthcare industry, and he believes that the launch of this course is a timely and positive step in the right direction.
“Another success of the faculty in this term is that the second building on Rókus Street has been renovated inside and out. This means that the Faculty of Pharmacy can now teach in its own lecture halls and seminar rooms, with adequate space for students in the building. The building has also provided suitable accommodation for the faculty’s four institutes. This investment was made in 2019-2020 under a mutually beneficial resource-sharing agreement with the UPMS,” he said.
He also pointed out that the two-semester postgraduate clinical research associate training course was prepared in the last two years of the dean's term. After the approval of the Educational Authority, the training course was launched this autumn with the participation of more than 40 students with degrees in medicine, pharmacy, health sciences MSc, and biology.
He highlighted the expansion of industrial relations as an area for further development, noting that they are heading in the right direction, but there is still much to be accomplished in this field. As he said, the Faculty of Pharmacy in Pécs has strong postgraduate education, and more emphasis should be placed on the training of industrial pharmacists. Unfortunately, the faculty is at a disadvantage in the industrial field, as it is not surrounded by the kind of environment that exists in Debrecen, for example, because of TEVA and Richter. However, it is not entirely without local industrial links either; in this field, they cooperate with PannonPharma Kft. in Pécsvárad, which is interested in pharmaceutical production and pharmaceutical and drug analytical research.
(It was announced in November 2023, after the recording of the interview, that the University of Pécs and MSD Pharma Hungary Kft., a pharmaceutical company, had signed a strategic cooperation agreement. According to the UP’s announcement, the R&D agreement with the Hungarian subsidiary of the global pharmaceutical company will enable faster starting of trials and, thus, early access to innovative therapies for patients. (ed.))
Pharmacist training is changing along with the world, and the needs
“Pharmacist training is very traditional, and transformations do not happen overnight, even if their necessity is justified. Let’s take practice orientation as an example: we have started something in this area, we have even launched a national discussion, but in my opinion, more effective and courageous steps are needed than what the rigid structure of training currently allows”, said Lajos Botz.
“It always feels wrong to say that something is less needed now than it used to be, but it must be done in order to make progress. The Anglo-Saxon countries are more flexible in their approach to transforming their training, adapting to labour market needs, recognizing a problem, and trying to solve it quickly. We, on the other hand, are thinking in terms of a Prussian coordinate system that nurtures traditions much further. We identify a problem, and then we talk about it rather than start solving it for years. There are progressive changes, but we still have a long way to go.”
According to the former dean, one of the keys to change is the teacher himself, his role, and his habitus.
“For example, can they talk about a day-to-day change, or can they explain to students what is new in the field and practical issues? In other words, are they prepared to demonstrate the usefulness of their teaching material, so to speak, with practical examples of health, medicine, and pharmacy? Suppose a drug is withdrawn from the market. What could be the reason for this? Was there a flaw in the manufacturing process or in the clinical trials? Was it not properly used in therapeutic practice? If a teacher can effectively address such questions, then they truly provide practice-oriented training.”
According to Lajos Botz, pharmacy training institutions nowadays also have an expanded role, namely, to provide freshly admitted students with the missing scientific foundation. “We expect them to pass a school-leaving exam in chemistry at an advanced level, even though they may be coming from a secondary school where they did not have a chemistry teacher, so they certainly need to catch up with the basics,” he said.
Future challenges for a genuinely diverse interdisciplinary field
The former dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Pécs pointed out that the role of the pharmacist, as well as the field of pharmacy itself, is changing dynamically. The world is changing, needs are changing, and the profession is adapting, bringing with it the necessary renewal. The profession looked different in the 1990s, and it looks different now, with a different position and a changing skill set. Many stereotypes, which were not true before either, are now especially out of place.
“Pharmacy, like many other disciplines today, is an interdisciplinary field. For a long time, the role of the pharmacist was to ensure the safety of medicines so that the patients got the medicine they needed of the appropriate quality. This has now been replaced by ensuring patient safety: meaning that the patient receives and uses the right quality of medicine in the way that is most optimal for them, and if something arises while taking it, it should be detected early, the problem examined and changed if necessary,” he points out.
“We are pushing for new medicines, which is very progressive, but at the same time, I do not believe we are thinking enough about whether we can get the desired results with the existing ones. Sometimes, all it takes is one question, and it turns out that a different strategy is likely to be the right one. I believe that routine drug therapy could improve a lot in Hungary today, and the role of pharmacists could be essential in this,” he added.
There is no area where a pharmacist with good skills is not needed
“Putting effort into the basic subjects at the beginning is an excellent investment. Once the foundations are solid, the rest can be built on them, and with the knowledge base thus acquired, you can continue in many directions,” the former dean said, addressing those who are interested in a career in pharmacy and would like to enrol in the training in February next year.
“Last year, in the Medical Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, it was stated that the added value of pharmacy in the adaptive, complex, and evolving healthcare system cannot be questioned in the future either. Besides, it is such a wide-ranging discipline that only a few other fields can claim the same. The pharmaceutical industry is incredibly diverse, with plenty of opportunities in human clinical trials, but those who are more interested in chemistry and, for example, drug control, will find their way with a pharmacy degree, as will those who want to work in the market or with patients. New areas of the profession open up that we would never have imagined a decade ago, and who knows how many challenges the future will bring,” said Dr. Lajos Botz.
“There are pharmacists in every field, from dietary supplements to confectionery, but we have graduates working in healthcare software development as well. It is a diverse profession, with lots of opportunities, and with a background in science, we can be useful players in the health industry in many areas.”
Photos:
Lajos Kalmár