BPS is 50 years! 2020 marked 50 years since the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences was established by the FIP Council. Click here to learn more about the history of the BPS and look into its future.

BPS handles all aspects of FIP’s scientific activities and addresses challenges

Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences mission

The major role of the BPS is to handle all scientific aspects of FIP’s activities. The BPS’s vision is to be the global focal point for the promotion of pharmaceutical sciences and thereby contribute to the promotion of world health, especially through disease prevention and treatment. 

Advances in the pharmaceutical sciences improve the discovery, development, manufacture and use of safe, effective and quality medicines and medical products. In order to ensure that science remains at the core of pharmacy, the BPS vision includes being a partner in related aspects of pharmaceutical education.

The mission of the BPS is to serve as the leading international forum for the promotion of scientific interchange among pharmaceutical scientists, education in the pharmaceutical sciences, and the advancement of the pharmaceutical sciences globally.

The BPS has outlined five strategic objectives in order to realise its vision and mission, accompanied by specific activities. This can be found in its “Strategic plan”, published in 2018.

Challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical sciences

The chairs of eight of the SIGs have compiled opinions with regard to major challenges for the pharmaceutical sciences over the next five to 10 years in a paper published in 2015.

Inspiring future pharmaceutical scientists

The ever-pressing need to make medicines even safer while ensuring that development is efficient and cost-effective means that the science of medicines will be as important in the future as it has been over the past 50 years. The BPS has developed a brochure, “Changing the world by translating science into practice — Will YOU be part of the future?”, as a resource to help promote a pharmaceutical sciences career path among undergraduates. It highlights the array of challenges that need to be conquered in the different pharmaceutical science fields in order to improve our health care. A PowerPoint presentation supporting this brochure and promoting the pharmaceutical science career path can be downloaded by FIP members here. If you’re an educator and would like to have some printed copies, email membership@fip.org.

Structure of the board

The BPS comprises:

• Executive Committee 
• FIP President (ex officio member), Mr Paul Sinclair
• FIP Vice President nominated by the BPS
• Chairs of FIP’s special interest groups
• Delegates of FIP’s predominantly scientific member organisations (PSMOs)
• Expert members
• Observers

The Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences, in The Hague, The Netherlands, in April 2024

BPS Executive Committee

• Chair (2024-2028): Prof. Giovanni Pauletti
• FIP Scientific Secretary (2023-2027): Dr Rebecka Isaksson
• Elected Member (2022-2026): Prof. Erem Bilensoy
• Elected Member (2022-2026): Prof. Joseph Nicolazzo
• FIP Professional Secretary (2021-2025): Mr Luís Lourenço
• and as an ex officio member, FIP CEO: Dr Catherine Duggan

Vice President nominated by the BPS

• Vice President (2024-2028): Prof. Don Mager

SIG chairs

• Drug delivery and manufacturing: Prof. Tetsuya Ozeki
• New generation of pharmaceutical scientists: Dr Brian Cicali (Interim)
• New medicines: Prof. Takuya Kumamoto
• Personalised and precision medicine: Prof. Stephanie Huang
• Pharmacy practice research: Dr Victoria Garcia Cardenas
• Regulatory sciences and quality: Dr Horst-Dieter Friedel

PSMOs are entitled to be represented by one or several delegates based on their number of members.
Delegates are:

• Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Great Britain (APSGB): Prof. Ryan Donnelly
• Academy of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology of Japan (APSTJ): Prof. Tetsuya Ozeki and Prof. Makiya Nishikawa
• Australasian Pharmaceutical Sciences Association (APSA): Prof. Joseph Nicolazzo
• European Federation of Pharmaceutical Scientists (EUFEPS): Prof. Erem Bilensoy
• Iranian Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (IranAPS): Prof. Omid Sabzevari
• Pharmaceutical Society of Korea (PSK): Prof. Beom-Jin Lee
• National Institute of Public Health, Clinical Epidemiology and Toxicology - Lebanon: Prof. Pascale Salameh
• National Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Mexico: Dr Jose Manuel Cardenas
• Pharmaceutical Society of China Taiwan (PST): Prof. Jaw-Jou Kang 
• Turkish Pharmaceutical Technology Scientists' Association (TUFTAD): Ms Nevin Celebi

Expert members

In order for the board to implement and achieve the goals defined, expert members are appointed, serving for a specified period. Criteria for selection of expert members are that the individual has an international reputation and recognition in one or more fields of pharmaceutical sciences and that the person is thought to be an opinion leader in his/her field and represents a geographical region of the globe. The current expert members are:

• Dr Luther Gwaza (Zimbabwe) - as WHO Designated Technical Officer/Observer
• Prof. Maosheng Cheng (China)
• Prof. Marilyn Morris (USA)
• Prof. Don Mager (USA) - as Expert Member on Strategic Planning
• Dr Betty Exintaris (Australia) - as Expert Member on Science Education
• A/Prof. Michael Ward (Australia) - as Senior Advisor to the Congress Programme Development Group

Observers

• United States Pharmacopeia (USP): Dr Anthony Lakavage
• European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare (EDQM): Dr Francois-Xavier Lery 
• FIP Early Career Pharmaceutical Group (ECPG) President-elect: Dr Emmanuella Nzeribe
• International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation (IPSF) President: Mr Flynn Swift

In general, official governance meetings of the BPS are usually scheduled early in the year and during the FIP annual congress.

Official journal of the BPS

The official journal of FIP's Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences is the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.