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  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the job growth rate for pharmacists will continue to grow at a better than average rate of 17 percent through 2018. Pharmacy is a highly specialized profession that requires a tremendous amount of education and training. Students in Florida have the option of obtaining a pharmaceutical education at well-known universities.
  
  

University of Florida

• As Florida's most prominent university, it should come as little surprise that the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy is also one of the best in the nation. The university's pharmacy program ranked ninth in U.S. News and World Report's 2010 listing of highest rated pharmacy college in the United States. The university offers a number of innovative degree programs including a distance learning Doctor of Pharmacy. Joint degrees are offered in conjunction with the Doctor of Pharmacy, including the M.B.A, Ph.D., MPH (Master of Public Health), J.D. and B.S. in nutritional sciences. Departments include medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics, pharmacodynamics, pharmaceutical outcomes and policy, pharmacotherapy and translational research. The college also offers forensic science programs.
  
  University of Florida College of Pharmacy
  P.O. Box 100484
  Gainesville, FL 32610
  352-273-6312
  cop.ufl.edu
  
  

Florida A&M University

• Florida A&M University (FAMU) offers pharmacy classes in Tallahassee, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and Crestview. The university's pharmacy school ranked fourth in funding among pharmacy colleges in the Southeast United States in 2009. The College of Pharmacy offers the basic Master of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy programs as well as other graduate degree programs including basic sciences, economic, social and administrative pharmacy and the Institute of Public Health. Areas of concentration within the basic sciences include environmental toxicology, pharmaceutics, pharmacology/toxicology and medicinal chemistry. The university has a number of research facilities, including a neuroscience research center.
  
  Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University
  College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
  1415 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
  Tallahassee, FL 32307
  850-599-3301
  
  

Nova Southeastern University

• Generally known for its online degree programs in other fields, Nova Southeastern University is also one of the few schools in Florida where you can obtain a degree in pharmacy studies. Nova Southeastern offers the Doctor of Pharmacy degree and a Ph.D. in the field as well. Pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and nonprescription therapies are the basic courses of study, but students are also introduced to a wide variety of research-oriented courses of study. The Ph.D. program launches in the fall semester of 2010. Nova Southeastern's College of Pharmacy consists of four academic departments: pharmaceutical sciences, sociobehavioral and administrative pharmacy, pharmacy practice and faculty from other schools and colleges offer biochemistry, microbology and anatomy and physiology.
  
  Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy
  3301 College Ave.
  Fort Lauderdale-Davie, FL 33314-7796
  800-541-6682
  nova.edu