Mission Statement continued

One of the instruments that may contribute to the visibility and identity of the discipline is the training of Pharmacologists according to a defined training plan and the registration of those who meet the requirements as defined for the training. By this, the Society intends to indicate that registered Pharmacologists have defined broad knowledge and experience in the areas of Pharmacokinetics (uptake, distribution, and excretion of drugs) and Pharmacodynamics (effects of drugs). Since Pharmacology also utilizes insights and methodologies from related (bio-)medical disciplines like, amongst others, Biochemistry, Immunology, Molecular Biology and Physiology, registered Pharmacologists must also have an overview of the principles of these disciplines. The Dutch Pharmacological Society has installed a Committee for supervision and assessment which tests the training plan and level of individual candidates against a set of predefined published criteria. The Committee acts on behalf of the Board of the Society. The full Professors in the Society, who act as trainers, and the Board of the Society have approved these criteria.

In time, said registration will (possibly) lead to a situation in which registered Pharmacologists will get priority in case of open positions in Academia, government bodies and industry. Also in national and local committees in which a contribution from Pharmacology is desirable or imperative, registered Pharmacologists could get priority. Examples of such committees are Committees for the use of drugs in hospitals, or Committees for Animal Experimentation. To reach this goal, in the first place the quality of the training needs to be monitored carefully. Furthermore, the existence of the Registration, its meaning and added value needs to be brought to the attention of relevant parties. The first point is a delegated task of the Committee for supervision and assessment; the second is a task of the Members of the Society and, specifically, the Board of the Society.

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