The goal of medicinal chemistry is to support the search for new drugs to treat conditions such as heart disease and cancer. You’ll work in well-equipped laboratories, and learn to conduct effective independent research, and explore complex chemical and biological processes involved in the design and manufacture of drugs and other therapies for treating disease. You’ll develop essential skills for employment, such as problem solving, presentation and communication.

Taking Physics as part of a Combined Honours degree, will allow you to explore the subject fundamentals, including quantum mechanics, relativity and electromagnetism, and apply this knowledge to solve problems, plan investigations, analyse results and to report and present your work.

You’ll use mathematics to describe the physical world, and learn to plan and conduct investigations before reporting your results. Your course will be informed by the research interests of your teaching staff and laboratory sessions will enable you to investigate unfamiliar phenomena and acquire specialist techniques.

This course is accredited by the Institute of Physics.

Our Medicinal Chemistry graduates have excellent employment prospects, whether at the cutting edge of drug discovery or in a wide range of related fields. You might go to work for a pharmaceutical company, either as a research scientist or in a more business related role. Alternatively, you might work in a different organisation as a development chemist, a research assistant, or a site chemist.

Physics at Keele prepares you for many different careers. Employers value versatile, numerate graduates who can analyse, investigate and communicate. You could take up roles as a research scientist, medical physicist, geophysicist, software engineer, or teacher; take on roles that are not directly related to physics such as in management or public services; or you might branch out to become a science writer, chartered accountant or IT consultant. Many of our graduates go on to study for a master’s degree or perform research at a doctoral level. Your choice of second subject can only add to the possibilities above and open up many other multidisciplinary opportunities.