General Information
The term "Pharmacology" has been derived from the combination of two Greek words, "Pharmacos" (drug) and "logos" (science). According to the description by World Health Organization, "drug" means "a substance to be used to change the physiological systems or pathological conditions for the benefit of the user". Pharmacology can be defined as "the study of substances that interact with living systems through chemical processes, especially by binding to regulatory molecules and activating or inhibiting normal body processes". Pharmacology deals with the discovery and development of new drugs, testing them by clinical and pre-clinical trials for clinical use, and monitoring their effects throughout the post-marketing period, it also concerns with identifying the mechanisms underlying the effects, adverse and/or toxic effects of the known or new drugs. In addition, determining the individual or ethnical differences in drug metabolism and efficacy due to the polymorphisms in drug metabolizing enzymes, testing the bioequivalence of drugs containing the same active substances, examining the interactions between drugs and of drugs with biological systems are also in the field of interest of Pharmacology. Basically, Pharmacology deals with two major concerns; i.e. "How drug affects the body" and "How body affects the drug" by the help of two main sub-disciplines of Pharmacology, Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics, respectively. In conclusion, Pharmacology tries to suggest the most convenient drugs for the diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of diseases.
Department of Pharmacology at Başkent University Faculty of Medicine was established in 1999 as a subsidiary department under Internal Medical Sciences.
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