Medical chemistry is a discipline at the intersection of chemistry, especially synthetic organic chemistry, and pharmacology and various other biological specialties, where they are engaged in the design, chemical synthesis and development of pharmaceutical agents or bioactive molecules (drugs) for the market.

In particular, medical chemistry in its most common practice — with an emphasis on small organic molecules — covers synthetic organic chemistry and aspects of natural products, as well as computational chemistry in close combination with chemical biology, enzymology and structural biology, all together aimed at the discovery and development of new therapeutic agents. Practically speaking, this involves the chemical aspects of identification and then systematic, thorough synthetic modification of new chemical compounds to make them suitable for therapeutic use.

Medicinal chemistry involves the application of a number of specialized disciplinary approaches all focused on the ultimate goal of drug discovery.  Drug target identification and validation, rational (target-based) drug design, structural biology, computational-based drug design, methods development (chemical, biochemical, and computational), and “Hit-to-lead” development are all aspects of medicinal chemistry.  The techniques and approaches of chemical biology, synthetic organic chemistry, combinatorial (bio)chemistry, mechanistic enzymology, computational chemistry, chemical genomics, and high-throughput screening are all used by medicinal chemists towards drug discovery.

For students, medicinal chemistry could be integrated with pharmacology to present a coherent picture of the principles of drug action.  Pharmacology mainly deals with drug action at the cellular, tissue/organ and organism levels.  Medicinal chemistry focuses on the molecular aspects of drug action: interactions with the drug targets from both the drug and the target point of view, the relationship of drug chemical structure to drug action and the effects of metabolism on the drug structure and hence its action.

The major "Medical Chemistry" covers the discovery of drugs and prepares students to study the behavior of chemicals at the molecular level. Students use computational, biochemical and cellular screening technologies to identify natural and synthetic compounds with pharmacological activity. They study the relationship between structure and activity to understand the mechanisms of action of drugs. Research, as a rule, is aimed at identifying, synthesizing and developing new chemical molecules suitable for biological research and, ultimately, for therapeutic use.

There are common documents, which are required for application:

• Application form;

• Table of the schools and universities attended to date;

• Essay;

• One or more letters of recommendation from the school ;

• School certificates from the past 2-3 years; SAT/ACT test if applicable;

• English language test.

Through chemical and instrumental analysis, drug design and synthesis, separation and purification of small molecules and biomolecules, pharmaceutical quality control and assurance, and understanding drug action and safety, students will assemble the skills to develop a career in biomedical science, bioanalytical science, biotechnology, medicine, or pharmaceutical science. After graduation students could be employed as:

• Analytical chemist;

• Biotechnologist;

• Chemical engineer;

• Healthcare scientist;

• Pharmacologist;

• Research scientist;

This track is quite prospective for students, who are interested in science and research.