Pharmacologists carry out essential research understanding how medicines work. This is different to a pharmacist, who is a licensed health professional who prepares, dispenses and advises about medicines that are already available.
Pharmacology brings together chemistry, physiology (the study of the body) and pathology (the study of disease) and has close ties to other subjects such as neuroscience, molecular and cell biology, immunology and cancer biology.
Many pharmacology jobs require studying for a degree in pharmacology, but there are pharmacology roles that do not require a degree.
A medical degree is required to train as a clinical pharmacologist. After graduating from medical school, trainee doctors interested in pharmacology as a career will need to specialise in Clinical Therapeutics and Pharmacology. There is more information about this on our Clinical Pharmacology: for medical students pages.