Natural product education in schools of pharmacy in the United States

Objective. The purpose of this study was to describe pharmacy school curriculum offerings in the areas of natural products and complementary/alternative medicine. Methods. Eighty-one schools of pharmacy in the United States were surveyed to determine the extent to which coursework addressing natural product or complementary/alternative medicine had been incorporated into their curriculum. Results. Usable responses were obtained from 64 schools (79 percent). Of these, 51 schools offered some exposure to these topics, while 40 offered courses exclusively on these topics. Most of these schools offered this instruction as an elective course focused primarily on natural products. Conclusion. These results indicate that while the number of schools offering education in the areas of natural products or complementary/alternative medicine has increased, these topics are still not consistently covered in pharmacy school curricula.