History of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Introduction

While not a fully formed department until 1958, the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy traces its roots to 1939. It was then that graduate degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry debuted at the University of California, Berkeley. The pharmaceutical chemistry graduate program eventually moved to the San Francisco campus helping to seed what is today a thriving basic sciences department that is pushing forward the frontier of not only pharmaceutical chemistry but emerging fields related to the discovery and development of precise therapeutics.

Then: Troy C. Daniels at the blackboard, 1930

Now: Bo Huang in the optics lab

Department chairs

	2016—	Matt Jacobson, PhD
	2008–2016	James Wells, PhD
	1995–2008	Thomas James, PhD
	1993–1995 (acting)	Peter Kollman, PhD
	1993–1993 (acting)	Irwin (Tack) Kuntz, PhD
	1982–1992	George Kenyon, PhD
	1970–1982	Manfred Wolff, PhD
	1965–1970	John Craig, PhD
	1959–1965	Warren (Bud) Kumler, PhD
	1958–1959	John J. Eiler, PhD

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: 1937–1958

Writing credit

Thank you to Thomas James, PhD, for developing this history and to James Wells, PhD, for the update since he became department chair in 2008.