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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.
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
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| 1970 | Name changes to University of California, San Francisco |
| 1973 | Division of Clinical Pharmacy forms
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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.
Bo Huang image credit: © majedphoto, Matt Jacobson image credit: Elisabeth Fall
Department chairs
| 2025-present | Brian Shoichet, PhD |
| 2021-2025 | Michelle Arkin, PhD |
| 2016—2020 | 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 |