The Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy (HCOP) offers MS and PhD degrees in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Those pursuing these degrees must select one of four curricular options: (1) Health Outcomes Research and Policy, (2) Pharmaceutics, (3) Pharmacology, or (4) Medicinal Chemistry.

Research and teaching in the Department of Health Outcomes Research and Policy seeks to improve medication-related outcomes, considering the perspective of patients, providers, and policymakers. This includes social and behavioral aspects of pharmacy, research to maximize medication-related outcomes, machine learning, and comparative effectiveness and safety research. The overall goal of the department is to improve medication effectiveness through practice and population-based research.

Research in the Department of Drug Discovery and Development is focused on several therapeutic areas, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and oncology. Investigators are generating lead molecules with therapeutic potential, elucidating mechanisms of disease, optimizing drug delivery strategies, and studying drug disposition.

Medicinal chemists identify or generate novel chemical entities that may serve as potential lead molecules for the drug discovery process. These chemists also work to develop strategies and tools for assessing drug consumption and metabolism.
Scientists who focus on pharmaceutics study the relationship between the properties of drugs and development of strategies to improve drug administration and drug delivery.

Pharmacologists work to identify and validate novel targets for pharmacotherapeutic intervention. They also study the effects of agents on cell, tissue, organ, and organismal function, particularly toxic effects.