HISTORY
The PSPG Program represents the merger of pharmaceutical sciences
and contemporary genetics, both molecular and human. For over
twenty years, UCSF had a Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Chemistry
with three pathways:pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, and toxicology.
The pharmaceutics pathway trained students in the basic and translational
sciences involved in drug development, including drug delivery
systems, drug metabolism and transport, pharmacokinetics (the
study of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion),
and pharmacodynamics (the study of drug effects). The medicinal
chemistry pathway focused on training students in the chemical
aspects of drug discovery and drug product development. The toxicology
pathway was a minor pathway and emphasized training in molecular
toxicology.
In the late
1990s, enormous changes in the pharmaceutical sciences and in
genomics and genetics set the stage for the visionary new Graduate
Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics. Participating
faculty in the interdisciplinary PSPG program are from ten departments,
including Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Neurology, Medicine, Psychiatry,
Biochemistry & Biophysics, Anatomy, and Laboratory Medicine.
