The Pharmacology course is designed to provide medical students a basis from which they can apply their knowledge of pharmacology to the prevention and treatment of disease and to assess the usefulness of future therapeutic agents in their practice of medicine. This course encompasses the concepts of pharmacodynamics (e.g., drug-receptor interactions, signaling mechanisms, and dose-effect relationships) and pharmacokinetics (e.g., drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination). Additionally, the course emphasizes the biochemical and physiological bases for understanding drug action, and it introduces many major classes of drugs. Groups of drugs which are specifically considered include those acting on the autonomic nervous system, those most prominently affecting the immune system, and antineoplastic, antimicrobial, and antiparasitic compounds