History of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences

Introduction

The Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS) was formed in 2009 as a joint department of the UC San Francisco Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine. It roots, however, extend back 1965 when the School of Pharmacy created a Department of Pharmacy, and in 1995 renamed it to the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences. The latter joined with the medical school's Program in Bioengineering to form the current BTS department.

Then: Robert Childers, Class of 1958, in the biopharmaceutics lab

Now: postdoc Rachel Lowe working on The Kidney Project

Department chairs

Became Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, 2009
	2014—	Tejal Desai, PhD
	2013–2014	Kathy Giacomini, PhD
	2009–2013	Kathy Giacomini, PhD, and Sarah Nelson, PhD (co-chairs)
Became Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, 1996
	1998–2009	Kathy Giacomini, PhD
	1996–1998	Leslie Benet, PhD
Department of Pharmacy
	1978–1995	Leslie Benet, PhD
	1967–1978	Sidney Riegelman, PhD
	1965–1967	Jere Goyan, PhD

All non-clinical faculty, 1962

Chairships

1965–1967: The Goyan chairship	A discussion of notable faculty members
1967–1978: The Riegelman chairship	Ninth Floor Project: Beginnings of the Clinical Pharmacy program Major departmental scientific contributions
1978–1998: The Benet chairship	Recruitment Division of Toxicology Clinical Pharmacology NIH funding NONMEM Leading department publishing Drug Studies Unit Pharmacokinetics for Pharmaceutical Scientists Entrepreneurship Founding AAPS Name change: Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences Major departmental scientific contributions
1998–2009: The Giacomini chairship	Pharmacogenomics research grant Move to Mission Bay Computational and systems biology Biological and Medical Informatics (BMI) Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics (PSPG) CDDS ACDRS and CCDRS Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS) Major departmental scientific contributions
2009–2014: The Giacomini-Nelson co-chairship	Center for Quantitative Pharmacology Biomedical Micro and Nanotechnology Core CERSI Rosenman Institute Major departmental scientific contributions
August 2014—: The Desai chairship

Founding of the School’s three departments

1868	University of California is founded
1872	California College of Pharmacy is founded
1873	College of Pharmacy affiliates with the University of California (Toland Medical College affiliates, 1873; College of Dentistry, 1881; UC Training School for Nurses, 1907)
1934	Affiliated College of Pharmacy becomes the College of Pharmacy of the University of California
1955	College of Pharmacy becomes the School of Pharmacy
1958	Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry forms
1964	San Francisco campus of the University of California gains independence under the name “University of California, San Francisco Medical Center” and becomes the ninth campus in the UC system
1965	Department of Pharmacy forms 1996: Department of Pharmacy changes its name to the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences 2009: Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences reforms as a joint department under the Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine and renames as the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences
1970	Name changes to University of California, San Francisco
1973	Division of Clinical Pharmacy forms 1996: Division of Clinical Pharmacy is approved to become the Department of Clinical Pharmacy

Next: 1965–1967: The Goyan chairship

Writing credit

Thank you to Leslie Benet, PhD, for developing this history and to the many members of the department, past and present, who made significant contributions to this history. The department thanks Robert Levin, PharmD, and Robert Day, PharmD, who provided many of our historical images.

Introduction

Department chairs

Became Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, 2009

Became Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, 1996

Department of Pharmacy

Chairships

Founding of the School’s three departments

Writing credit