Sterile compounding education
Individual aseptic practice at 25 four-foot workstations, supported by instruction, feedback, observation, and competency assessment for pharmacy learners.
Core foundationUT Tyler College of Pharmacy
Institute for Sterile Compounding and Advanced Therapeutics.
Advancing medication safety through education, research, and practice. A proposed institute for future pharmacists and working professionals, with individual skills stations, functional cleanrooms, and studios that extend learning beyond Tyler.
Aspirational concept; programs and services would phase in as funding, partnerships, and authorizations are established.
Illustrative concept visualization · not an existing facility
Learn → investigate → translateOne connected environment for people, process, and patient-specific therapies.
25 individual stationsfour-foot LAFWs plus an instructor unit
6 cleanroom cabinetsthree six-foot LAFWs and three BSCs
Students + practitionersfoundational and advanced education
Sustainable by designrecurring services, research, and philanthropy
The vision
An institute connecting people, practice, and advanced therapies.
Build a place where rigorous sterile practice becomes a platform for discovery, workforce preparation, and responsible translation of advanced medicines.
Sterile compounding provides the practical foundation. The Institute would connect pharmacists, technicians, scientists, engineers, clinicians, and learners to improve preparation, quality, handling, delivery, and access.
LearnPractice with feedback in realistic environments.
InvestigateTest processes, devices, and quality systems.
TranslateMove evidence into safer, better workflows.
What the Institute would develop
One platform. Several connected capabilities.
Explore the proposed capabilities by stage. The core builds enduring teaching and research capacity; specialized clinical and manufacturing activities require separate authorization and operational readiness.
Hazardous drug and high-risk practice
Teach containment, exposure prevention, device selection, spill response, decontamination, and safe handling across pharmacy and patient-care workflows.
Core foundationComplex sterile formulations
Study preparation challenges involving parenteral nutrition, pediatric and neonatal dosing, ophthalmics, preservative-free preparations, and delivery devices.
Core foundationApplied quality and process research
Investigate aseptic workflow, contamination control, human factors, environmental monitoring, stability questions, automation, and medication-use systems.
Core foundationCell and gene therapy readiness
Develop education and research in chain of identity and custody, time-critical receipt, cryogenic storage, thawing, preparation simulation, and clinical handoffs.
Radiopharmacy and theranostics
Build toward radiopharmaceutical education, quality control, shielded manipulation, and targeted diagnostic / therapeutic workflows with radiation-safety partners.
Cyclotron-produced medicines
Evaluate on-site isotope production only if regional need, distribution economics, partners, licensing, staffing, and lifecycle costs support a viable case.
Long-horizon optionPersonalized preparation science
Explore how decision support, micro-batches, automation, and individualized data could shape future preparation—under validated processes and human governance.
Research horizonProfessional development and partnerships
Core programs for practitioners: advanced cleanroom intensives, designated-person development, assessment and remediation, train-the-trainer education, and institutional digital learning.
Core foundationA signature learning experience
Follow a therapy from signal to safe use.
Use one connected workflow to teach the thinking, controls, and handoffs behind complex medicines—not just the manipulations at the workbench.
01 · IdentifyPatient and product
Clarify the need, order, source, product status, and time constraints.
02 · ReceiveVerify and protect
Confirm identity, custody, temperature, integrity, and appropriate storage.
03 · PrepareControl the process
Use the right environment, equipment, people, calculations, and documentation.
04 · AssureReview and release
Apply independent checks, quality evidence, traceability, and escalation pathways.
05 · LearnImprove the system
Debrief, study performance, and turn insight into safer practice.
A learning and improvement engine
Teach the work. Rehearse the exceptions. Measure what learners can do.
The Institute would connect classroom learning, repeated hands-on practice, realistic simulation, structured feedback, and later reassessment. It builds on existing pharmacy education by deepening integration, transfer, judgment, and retention.
Progressive instruction
Layer knowledge and practice across the learner’s development rather than treating aseptic technique as a one-time lab.
- PharmD foundations: hand hygiene, garbing, aseptic technique, calculations, cleanroom behavior, and quality principles.
- Advanced learners: verification, hazardous-drug workflows, complex cases, error recognition, and care-team handoffs.
- Working professionals: advanced practice, preceptor development, designated-person systems, and quality leadership.
Simulation for routine work and rare events
Scenarios can test decisions that are difficult to teach through demonstration alone: interruptions, discrepancies, suspected contamination, equipment failure, exposure concerns, and uncertain handoffs.
- Pre-brief, observed scenario, structured debrief, deliberate practice, and remediation.
- Cleanroom observation, video review, team communication, and human-factors analysis.
- Cell-therapy identity and custody, cryogenic logistics, and time-critical receipt simulations.
Evidence-based competency assessment
Use multiple forms of evidence to provide specific feedback and document progress. Course completion is educational evidence; it does not replace an employer’s required qualification, authorization, or competency program.
- Direct observation with transparent skill rubrics and trained assessors.
- Knowledge and calculation checks, documentation review, product-quality exercises, and scenario response.
- Deliberate practice plus later reassessment to examine retention and transfer.
Practice research that improves teaching
Begin with feasible questions in the instructional environment, then test useful changes with practice partners where approvals and data governance permit.
- Do video-supported feedback or structured debriefs improve error recognition?
- Which skills persist over time, and what practice supports retention?
- How do interruptions, workflow design, or team communication shape decision quality?
Advanced practitioner programs
Small-group cleanroom intensives for practicing pharmacists and technicians, with preparatory modules, coached exercises, individual assessment, remediation, and later reassessment.
- Complex preparation, verification, contamination investigations, and quality systems.
- Trainer calibration, designated-person development, and implementation projects.
- Annual hospital partnerships with defined services and reserved learning capacity.
Studios extend the learning environment
Overhead and oblique camera views, live switching, recording, instructor audio, captions, and secure review connect the lab with learners beyond campus.
- Live demonstrations, recorded modules, cases, and remote debriefing.
- Licensable teaching resources for hospitals and other schools.
- Hands-on competency uses direct observation or a specifically validated assessment method.
Education that earns its place in practice: teach foundational skills, assess individual performance, support advanced practitioners, and measure retention and workplace transfer. The current first-year class exceeds 60 students, as reported during planning; the 25-station lab serves learners in multiple sections. Practitioner participation and digital reach will be validated before revenue projections are set. Continuing education credit remains subject to an approved provider arrangement.
Space that teaches and enables
A facility with visible learning and controlled workflows.
The initial program includes the individual skills lab, functioning classified suite, classrooms, studios, and research support. The earlier 12,000–16,500 NSF core estimate must be reprogrammed against this expanded scope; a new total has not been established.
Practice
25 individual student workstations
A nonclassified instructional lab with 25 nominal four-foot horizontal LAFWs and one instructor demonstration cabinet. Every simultaneous learner has a dedicated position.
Apply
Functional six-cabinet cleanroom suite
Three six-foot horizontal LAFWs in a nonhazardous buffer room and three Class II BSCs in a separate hazardous buffer room. Ante/garbing, monitored HVAC, appropriate exhaust, certification, cleaning, and service access are part of the initial program.
Teach
Classrooms and debrief rooms
Flexible teaching, team cases, practitioner workshops, orientation, and post-exercise feedback beside the lab and cleanroom observation spaces.
Extend
Studios and production control
Cleanable demonstration camera systems, instructor audio, live switching, recording, editing, and digital course production connect campus activity to regional and remote learners.
Investigate
Applied research and quality support
Process simulation, human factors, contamination control, environmental monitoring, and learning outcomes. Use qualified partners for specialized analytical work as the research portfolio grows.
Develop jointly
Advanced therapeutics readiness
Partner-supported handling education, identity and custody, time-critical logistics, simulation, and research. Dedicated cryogenic and process infrastructure follows defined funded scope and operational readiness.
Support
Materials and facility backbone
Receiving and quarantine, released materials, cleaning and waste support, equipment staging, monitored utilities, IT, and maintenance access.
Access regionally
Specialized production and future options
Use established partners for cell/gene therapy GMP manufacturing, regulated release testing, clinical radiopharmacy, and cyclotron production. Local expansion requires its own demand, operating, and capital case.
Design and operational basis: the 32 cabinets include 25 student LAFWs, one instructor unit, three six-foot cleanroom LAFWs, and three BSCs. BSC width/type and engineered exhaust remain design decisions. Separate nonhazardous and hazardous workflows, engineer the pressure cascade, and commission and certify the actual rooms and cabinets. Teaching and research space does not itself authorize patient-use preparation, distribution, or advanced-therapy manufacturing.
Research agenda
Questions that improve practice now—and build the next capability.
Start with a small number of measurable practice problems. Training transfer plus an exposure-prevention or human-factors pilot can build evidence for foundation, health-system, industry, and appropriately matched government support. Research priorities are proposals, not secured awards.
See the program brief01
Training transfer and retention
Compare coached simulation with conventional instruction using blinded observation, delayed reassessment, and workplace performance.
02
Hazardous-drug exposure prevention
Study cleaning, transfer devices, workflow, and training through contamination measurements with industrial-hygiene and analytical partners.
03
AI-assisted assessment across sites
Test missed critical errors, false alerts, reviewer time, and agreement with experts across cabinets, camera views, and practitioner groups.
04
Digital quality documentation
Reduce missed incubation readings, transcription errors, and documentation time while preserving traceability for media fills and environmental monitoring.
05
Small-volume and pediatric accuracy
Compare syringe choice, dilution technique, gravimetry, and independent verification using measured preparation accuracy.
06
Equipment placement and human factors
Evaluate cameras, balances, supply layouts, first-air protection, visibility, posture, and workflow errors.
07
Rural workforce support
Test studio-based preparation plus periodic hands-on learning for retained competence, implementation, and reduced travel burden.
08
Safe change during shortages
Rehearse changes in concentrations, containers, suppliers, and preparation methods; measure accuracy and escalation.
09
Advanced-therapy handling
Study identity, custody, thawing, transfers, timing, and handoffs with qualified partners and appropriately scoped materials.
10
Individualized preparation quality
Explore identity, dose, traceability, and reliable quality decisions for very small batches with engineering and analytical partners.
Build in stages
Ambitious end state. Disciplined sequence.
Make the first phase independently valuable, while protecting the option to grow into more specialized work as partnerships and resources mature.
Program and feasibility
Confirm governance, site, utilities, the revised room program, staffing, revenue allocation, prospective buyers, and full lifecycle costs.
Core Institute
Activate the 25 plus one teaching lab, six-cabinet functional suite, classrooms, studios, research support, and practitioner education with a funded operating plan.
Advanced therapeutics
Add dedicated cell-therapy readiness and radiopharmacy / theranostics capabilities when authorized and supported.
Cyclotron decision
Proceed only if demand, partners, licensing, staffing, logistics, and lifecycle economics form a credible case.
Cyclotron: preserve the option, earn the investment.
IAEA facility guidance describes a dedicated vault and support block alongside production, QC, access, storage, and radioactive-waste functions. The selected accelerator and isotope portfolio drive the actual scope, so this deserves its own feasibility and business case.
A strategy for distinctiveness and scale
Own the learning core. Grow capability with partners.
Publicly described programs show that sterile-compounding education, cleanroom simulation, and professional training already exist elsewhere. UT Tyler’s opportunity is to connect them into a pharmacy-led platform that links instruction, observed competency, practice research, and a regional advanced-therapy network.
Pharmacy and technician education
Health-system practice sites
Cell and gene therapy programs
Nuclear medicine and oncology
Research and quality scientists
Equipment and technology partners
Regional and rural health
Professional organizations
The durable academic core
Distinctive capabilities that anchor the Institute and directly serve learners and regional workforce needs:
- Individual teaching lab, functional cleanroom suite, studios, simulation, and competency assessment.
- PharmD, technician, continuing, preceptor, and quality-leader education.
- Applied research in process reliability, human factors, learning, and medication-use systems.
Practice-linked translation
Capabilities that become stronger with clinical operations, research, and patient-care partners:
- Practice-based studies and implementation of tested improvements.
- Advanced-therapy readiness, clinical workflow, and interprofessional education.
- Shared workforce development and quality-improvement projects.
Specialized infrastructure
Use experienced facilities while UT Tyler establishes need, governance, expertise, and a sustainable operating case:
- Cell / gene therapy GMP manufacturing and regulated release testing.
- Cyclotron production, clinical radiopharmacy, and specialized isotope workflows.
- Highly specialized services beyond the Institute’s initial academic scope.
Benchmarks and potential pathways: VCU describes compounding practice and research with cleanroom education; the University of South Carolina offers sterile-compounding training; and Fairleigh Dickinson’s Lewis Center combines classroom, e-learning, and simulation. Potential regional expertise includes UT Southwestern, Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s, and MD Anderson. These are benchmarks and possible pathways only; no partnership or access is represented as secured.
Financial sustainability
Build recurring value that sustains the Institute.
Beyond tuition, the goal is a diversified operating model that covers attributable staff, supplies, cleanroom operations, certification, technology, university overhead, and an equipment replacement reserve. No break-even date or revenue forecast has been established.
Institutional partnerships
Annual hospital and health-system agreements, institutional digital licenses, and repeat practitioner programs provide the proposed operating foundation.
Funded research and services
Scoped consulting, independent industry studies, competitive grants, and contracts support defined work. Restricted research funds cover allowable project costs rather than unrestricted operating profit.
Philanthropy and endowment
Capital gifts, equipment partnerships, endowed support, and scholarships help build the facility, maintain access, and fund renewal. Equipment gifts reduce cost; they are not recurring cash income.
Priority launch offers
Validate buyer demand and delivery cost before expanding the service catalog.
Annual hospital partnerships
Reserved learning seats, onboarding, advanced workshops, and bounded quality support under a renewable contract.
Advanced practitioner intensives
Small-group cleanroom programs with coached exercises, specific feedback, and performance assessment.
Assessment and remediation
Documented observation, targeted coaching, and reassessment for employers, who retain qualification responsibilities.
Train-the-trainer development
Educator and designated-person programs with calibrated rubrics, teaching resources, and follow-up support.
Digital institutional licenses
Studio-produced demonstrations, decision cases, assessments, faculty guides, and updates for hospitals and schools.
Defined improvement projects
Consulting and independent technology studies with clear scope, deliverables, staffing, and protected student teaching time.
Additional revenue paths and research support
- Manufacturer-sponsored applied research.
- Competitive research grants and government contracts.
- Curriculum licensing to other schools.
- Customized aseptic training for industry.
- A regional quality collaborative and benchmarking.
- Analytical and process studies with qualified partners.
- Sponsored fellowships and visiting practitioners.
- Endowment distributions and continuing corporate support.
Potential research routes include pharmacy foundations, health-system quality funding, independent industry contracts, NIOSH occupational-safety programs, and FDA regulatory-science solicitations. Program fit, eligibility, open dates, and allowable costs must be confirmed for each proposal. No funding commitment or agency endorsement is represented.
Before setting a financial target: validate institutional buyers and course demand; agree how revenue and indirect-cost recovery are allocated; model contribution after delivery costs, staffing and protected faculty time; and separate capital funding from operating break-even. Expand only when demand, personnel, and quality support the next program.
Read the working plans
Working materials for the next planning decision.
Updated October 16, 2026. The program, space/capital, equipment, and partnership briefs use the institute identity and the revised education, facility, research, and sustainability goals.
Vision · Program
Facility and Program Brief
Mission, education pathways, research priorities, partner strategy, and the proposed financial sustainability model.
Space · Capital
Space Program and Capital Planning Brief
Reprogramming requirements for the 25-station lab, functional suite and studios, plus infrastructure, lifecycle costs, and decision gates.
Facility · Equipment
Facility and Equipment Brief
The 25 individual four-foot LAFWs plus instructor, three six-foot LAFWs, three BSCs, studio integration, and manufacturer comparison.
Industry · Partnership
Equipment Partner Prospectus
A manufacturer discussion brief covering both cabinet packages, practitioner and student reach, studio integration, five-year support, and academic independence.
Planning and standards references
A vision worth building toward
Prepare people for medicines
that do not yet exist.
Start with a strong sterile-practice foundation. Bring the right partners together. Create room for discovery. Grow into advanced therapies when the science, need, and stewardship align.