Departments

Overview
The Pharmacy Administration and Administrative Health Sciences Department (PAAHS) has 20 full-time and adjunct faculty. Through this department, students are prepared for careers in Health Administration, Health Information Management, and Pharmacy. Members of the faculty in the Department are housed in the Nabrit Science Building and in Gray Hall on Campus. Faculty study interests include tobacco cessation, mental health, medication therapy management, and Interprofessional Education (IPE). Recognizing that inequalities in access to health services and the unequal burden of disease are at the forefront of problems in healthcare, the COPHS has incorporated health disparities courses into the curricula. Faculty in the department and in the College’s experiential program participate in the University’s Study Abroad program and have led two-week excursions arranged during summer months. Students are encouraged to consider a study abroad trip to enhance their educational experience. In the past, students have visited countries in the Caribbean and Africa. The program is being expanded to include other countries. Course credit may be earned for the travels and some funding is available to students.

Health Information Management
The undergraduate Health Information Management (HIM) program at Texas Southern University provides its students with a solid business and information systems background as well as a broad healthcare foundation. The HIM Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). Health information management professionals hold many diverse roles, yet all share a common purpose: to provide reliable and accurate information that drives the healthcare industry. Health information management (HIM) professionals are the experts who focus on the use, integrity, availability and privacy of health information to facilitate real-time healthcare delivery and make critical health related decisions for multiple purposes such as finance, law, research, and strategic planning across many types of organizations and disciplines. The HIM program is a great undergraduate program for students interested in becoming marketable and pursuing a career right after graduation or for those students interested in going directly to graduate or professional school.

Health Administration
The undergraduate Health Administration (HA) Program was established in 1982. It is credentialed by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). Its faculty, including adjuncts, make contributions to the profession through publishing, grant acquisition, presentations, and have board appointments from professional organizations to national boards, such as Texas Community Health Worker Certification Program, Health Administration Press, American College of Healthcare Executives, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Graduates from the undergraduate Health Administration (HA) programs are poised to oversee the management and delivery of health services.

Healthcare Administration
Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHCA) at Texas Southern University provides students with the knowledge and skills to manage as a health care professional. Students learn how to manage in health care organizations, how to deal with personnel, and how to interpret and comply with laws that affect healthcare providers, administrators and organizations. Course work in organizational, information systems and financial management are combined with human relations and health care issues to provide the student with a comprehensive set of skills for advancing in the profession of health care administration. The Program prepares individuals for leadership positions in contemporary health care organizations and systems.

Pharmacy Administration
The Department’s Pharmacy Administration faculty jointly with faculty in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Health Sciences offer pharmacy administration and management courses required in the College’s Doctor of Pharmacy Program (PharmD). The department’s faculty also support the experiential program and practice sites and collaborate to meet the educational needs of COPHS students via the Interdisciplinary Health Professions Simulation Center at the College. Pharmacy Administration faculty have led Interprofessional Education (IPE) initiatives at the College, including establishing an interprofessional geriatrics education and training consortium to engage primary care providers and the full spectrum of healthcare and community health professionals in a highly targeted integrated geriatrics and primary care training model to improve health outcomes for older adults.

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Health Sciences (PPCHS) department is comprised of 17 faculty members with programs leading to Baccalaureate in Science for Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) and Respiratory Therapy (RT) respectively and Doctorate Pharmacy degrees. Pharmacy Practice faculty are engaged in instruction, practice site development and research. CLS and RT faculty are involved in instruction and practice site programming. The faculty prepare students to monitor the health and progress of patients in response to drug therapy, respiratory care and measure patient’s body fluids. The COPHS has state of the art laboratories including for CLS assay analysis and control, Prescription Practice dispensing with clean rooms for sterile intravenous medication preparations for Pharmacy, Ventilators with gas tanks for RT students respectively. Additionally, the COPHS has provided a state of the art simulation center that offers students an opportunity to engage in realistic inter- professional team based learning environment, promote critical thinking and problem solving skills necessary for collaborative team based patient care practice in the 21st century. Some of the research interests include cancer prevention and management, healthcare disparity, medication management services for the older adults, diabetes and Pharmacoeconomics. The faculty have received grant funding’s from private, local state and federal agencies enabling faculty to conduct research projects.